Heavy Snow in Virginia, January 30 to 31, 2026

Name: Heavy Snow in Virginia, January 30 to 31, 2026
Start: 2026-01-30T07:00
End: 2026-01-31T18:39
Location: Virginia

January 30 to 31, 2026 · NWS RLX · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS RLX wrote it up.

The end of January rounded out with accumulating snow showers across southwestern Virginia in response to a passing low pressure system. The center of this disturbance intensified over the Carolinas on January 30th, pulling an abundance of moisture up from the south. Colder air ushered in from the north set the stage for precipitation to fall as snow as this event got underway on the morning of the 30th. The track of the storm kept the bulk of measurable snow contained within the southern coalfields and eastward into the Mid-Atlantic region before wrapping up by the later half of the day on January 31st. For Buchanan and Dickenson Counties, six to seven inches of snow fell across the highest elevations and between three to five inches for the lower elevations.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Charleston, WV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 30, 4:50 AM EST, 2 hours 10 minutes earlier. Its key messages:

1. Frontogenetically-forced snow event today through Saturday morning will focus accumulations of 2 to 5 inches across the southern coalfields and southwest Virginia. 2. Cold persists through Sunday morning with wind chills as low as -25F in the mountains. 3. Secondary Arctic surge Saturday night will bring a renewed push of frigid air and lake-enhanced snow showers and flurries to the northern lowlands and Northeast Mountains. 4. Clipper system Tuesday night into Wednesday presents a complex forecast involving a potential warm wedge and mixed precipitation.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 30, 4:50 AM EST, 2 hours 10 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Charleston WV
450 AM EST Fri Jan 30 2026

.WHAT HAS CHANGED...
450 AM Update...

Updated Aviation discussion. Previous discussion below.

Added details regarding the secondary Arctic surge for Saturday
night and the potential for lake-enhanced moisture from the
Upper Great Lakes. Uncertainty with track/intensity of mid-week
system.

&&

.KEY MESSAGES...
1. Frontogenetically-forced snow event today through Saturday
morning will focus accumulations of 2 to 5 inches across the
southern coalfields and southwest Virginia.

2. Cold persists through Sunday morning with wind chills as low
as -25F in the mountains.

3. Secondary Arctic surge Saturday night will bring a renewed
push of frigid air and lake-enhanced snow showers and flurries
to the northern lowlands and Northeast Mountains.

4. Clipper system Tuesday night into Wednesday presents a
complex forecast involving a potential warm wedge and mixed
precipitation.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
KEY MESSAGE 1...

A strong upper-level trough will drop into the southeastern United
States from the upper Great Lakes today, and surface low
pressure system will develop off the coast of the Carolinas by
this evening. Analysis of forecast vertical profiles for
in the southern coalfields shows the column moistening rapidly
through the morning with saturation occurring within a deep
dendritic growth zone. Given H925 temperatures near -10C and
H850 temperatures near -15C, snow-to-liquid ratios will be
quite high, likely between 15:1 and 20:1. This will result in 3
to 5 inches of dry, fluffy snow across McDowell, Dickenson, and
Buchanan counties. Amounts will reach advisory criteria just
north of the warned area, and could see warning level amounts
sneaking into the southern edge of the advisories with even a
minor northerly shift in the band.

As the low pressure system moves up the eastern seaboard and
strengthens into a Nor'easter, synoptically forced snow will
eventually end across our area late Saturday night, but
northerly winds will increase. Wind gusts are currently
expected to reach 15-20 mph across the lowlands and 35-40 mph
across the higher elevations of the mountains Sunday on the
backside of low pressure. Although Lake Erie is mostly frozen
over, a moisture contribution from Lake Huron/Superior will
likely keep at least some flurries going Saturday night into
Sunday.

KEY MESSAGE 2...

An exceptionally dry and frigid Arctic air mass remains
entrenched across the northern half of the forecast area this
morning with widespread temperatures in the single digits. The
00Z sounding from Pittsburgh reveals a precipitable water value
of only 0.11 inches and H850 temperatures around -20C. Wind
chills in the Northeast Mountains are expected to range from 10
to 15 below zero through mid-morning, with cold weather
advisories in effect.

Another push of cold air will spill into the area tonight into
Saturday morning, with portions of southeast Ohio seeing the
coldest air with wind chills potentially 10 to 15 below zero.
Another cold weather advisory has been issued for the northern
half of the forecast area. With the aforementioned winds in key
point 1 on Saturday night into Sunday will likely need some
additional cold weather headlines, advisories for some of the
lowlands and warning for the mountains. Will continue to address
these concerns day by day in coordination with our neighboring
offices.

This extended stretch of very cold weather may finally break by
the middle of next week as a ridge builds into the Ohio Valley,
although the spread in model solutions is fairly wide.

KEY MESSAGE 3...

As the coastal Nor'easter pulls away on Saturday, low-level flow
will back to the north, ushering in a secondary surge of Arctic
air. Despite Lake Erie being largely frozen over, model
soundings indicate a moisture fetch from Lake Superior will
interact with steep low-level lapse rates. This will maintain
lake-enhanced flurries and light snow showers across southeast
Ohio, the northern lowlands, and the Northeast Mountains through
Sunday morning.

KEY MESSAGE 4...

The forecast for Tuesday night into Wednesday centers on a fast
moving clipper system, with the primary challenge being the
degree of interaction between the northern and southern streams.
A purely northern stream solution would maintain a cold column,
resulting in light snow for the entire area. However, several
solutions suggest a more substantial southern stream
contribution, which would transport higher moisture content air
into the region. This scenario would establish a significant
warm wedge, with H850 temperatures rising above 0C while
surface temperatures remain around the freezing mark in the
valleys. Such a thermal profile could lead to mixed
precipitation in the typical warm wedge.

Given a fairly widespread in solutions for mid-week, forecast
confidence for mid-week and beyond is lower than normal.

&&

.AVIATION /09Z FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/...
VFR conditions prevail at most terminals this morning, though a
shallow MVFR stratocumulus deck is lingering near Clarksburg and
Elkins with some very light flurries. Conditions will
deteriorate across the south after 15Z Friday as light snow
spreads into the southern coalfields. Beckley is expected to
experience sustained IFR visibilities in snow between 15Z today
and 06Z Saturday. Further north, terminals should remain VFR,
though occasional MVFR ceilings and light snow flurries are
possible, especially tonight. Surface winds will remain from the
north to northeast at 5-10KTs.

FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND ALTERNATE SCENARIOS THROUGH 12Z SATURDAY...

FORECAST CONFIDENCE: Medium.

ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: If the frontogenetic band shifts further
north than anticipated, Charleston and Huntington could see
IFR conditions this afternoon/evening. Timing of onset of snow
at Beckley could vary by a couple hours.

EXPERIMENTAL TABLE OF FLIGHT CATEGORY OBJECTIVELY SHOWS CONSISTENCY
OF WFO FORECAST TO AVAILABLE MODEL INFORMATION:
H = HIGH:   TAF CONSISTENT WITH ALL MODELS OR ALL BUT ONE MODEL.
M = MEDIUM: TAF HAS VARYING LEVEL OF CONSISTENCY WITH MODELS.
L = LOW:    TAF INCONSISTENT WITH ALL MODELS OR ALL BUT ONE MODEL.

DATE               FRI 01/30/26
UTC 1HRLY       10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21
EST 1HRLY       05   06   07   08   09   10   11   12   13   14   15   16
CRW CONSISTENCY  H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H
HTS CONSISTENCY  H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H
BKW CONSISTENCY  H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    L    H    H    H
EKN CONSISTENCY  H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H
PKB CONSISTENCY  H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H
CKB CONSISTENCY  H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H

AFTER 12Z SATURDAY...
IFR possible through Sunday in snow showers, mainly south and
east of the Ohio River.

&&

.RLX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WV...Cold Weather Advisory from 7 PM this evening to 11 AM EST
     Saturday for WVZ006>011-014-016>020-028>032-039-040-
     521>526.
     Winter Storm Warning until 10 PM EST Saturday for WVZ033.
     Winter Weather Advisory until 10 PM EST Saturday for
     WVZ024>026-034-515-516.
     Cold Weather Advisory until 11 AM EST this morning for WVZ523-
     526.
OH...Cold Weather Advisory from 7 PM this evening to 11 AM EST
     Saturday for OHZ066-067-075-076-083>087.
KY...Cold Weather Advisory from 7 PM this evening to 11 AM EST
     Saturday for KYZ101>103.
VA...Winter Storm Warning until 10 PM EST Saturday for VAZ003-004.

&&

DISCUSSION...JP
AVIATION...JP

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Buchanan

When: January 30, 7:00 AM EST to January 31, 6:39 PM EST
Where: Buchanan forecast zone
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 37.267, -82.036 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Dickenson

When: January 30, 7:00 AM EST to January 31, 6:39 PM EST
Where: Dickenson forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 37.126, -82.350 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Virginia in 2026 Every state in 2026 This day in weather history Warnings in Virginia, January 2026

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1312380, 1312381.