A long duration winter storm impacted the Wakefield forecast area from February 11 until February 13. A series of shortwaves in west to southwest flow aloft tracked over the area during this time, bringing several waves of precipitation into the area. The first wave started during the morning of February 11. A cold airmass was in place, so this was primarily in the form of snow, although warm air advection aloft quickly allowed the precipitation to change to rain from the Tri-Cities southward by mid to late morning. However, portions of the centra and south-central Virginia Piedmont picked up a quick 1 to 3 inches of snow (locally up to 4 in Farmville) by noon. A strong (50-60 knot) southerly low level jet around 850-800 mb allowed warmer air aloft to surge north of the Richmond Metro by the afternoon. This low level jet allowed mid-level frontogenesis to increase, which resulted in precipitation intensity increasing. Just to the north of the 850 mb 0C line, moderate to heavy bands of snow set up from the central VA Piedmont to the Lower Eastern Shore during the afternoon and evening. Widespread 6 to 8 inch totals were observed from Louisa, Fluvanna, and Hanover/Caroline Counties over to the Maryland Eastern Shore. Snowfall totals of 3 to 4 inches were observed across northern portions of the Richmond Metro area, with little to no snowfall accumulation across eastern Chesterfield County where precipitation changed over to sleet and rain by midday. The snowfall gradient from Chesterfield to Hanover Counties was tight with totals varying from one half inch to 6 to 8 inches in a matter of 50 miles. While the snow caused widespread travel issues, power outages (from the snow alone) were localized at most, possibly due to the lack of wind with this event. However, the snow was arguably NOT the greatest impact from this winter storm.
Eventually, precipitation changed over to all liquid by the night of February 11. However, weak low-level cold air advection allowed surface temperatures to drop to 30-31F from the central Virginia Piedmont to western portions of the Richmond Metro overnight. With continued light to moderate rain, ice accretion was efficient on trees and power lines (especially across the Piedmont) even though there was no ice on area roadways. The weight of the ice (and ice on top of snow) downed several trees and power lines across the Piedmont and Richmond Metro, resulting in widespread power outages across western portions of the Wakefield forecast area. Little to no ice was observed from Lunenburg/Dinwiddie Counties south and east as temperatures did not drop lower than 32-33F. This was a case where 1-2 degrees made the difference between 0.25 inches of ice on trees/power lines (like what happened in Farmville) and plain rain farther southeast. There were nearly 200,000 power outages in the state of Virginia at the peak of the event. Some areas were without power for 3-5 days.