A winter storm is hammering eastern Virginia and North Carolina on Feb. 19, leading to dangerous conditions in some areas.
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00:00We're going to start off in Norfolk, Virginia this time, because it has been a cold and blustery day with ongoing snowfall.
00:06Yeah, Accuweather's Allie Reed is there with more.
00:09Allie, you've changed locations, but conditions are very similar, it looks like.
00:17Exactly, about 30 minutes away.
00:20Now, what's interesting about this area and really the Hampton Roads region as a whole,
00:26we're expecting to see anywhere from potentially 9 to 12 inches of accumulated snow.
00:31That is potentially an upwards of about a foot of snow here.
00:35That is highly unusual for this area and something that a lot of the major crews that are working this area
00:42really wanted to get ahead of as they are dealing with the roadways.
00:45Let's talk about the roads right now.
00:48They are in not good shape, let me tell you that.
00:51You might see some cars like that going by.
00:54Probably too fast of a speed, but there are some smaller cars that are just not able to make it onto.
01:03Sighting a number of crashes just an hour into the snowfall and we know.
01:12All right, so we were debating on that video.
01:14I think we caught someone running a red light out there in snowfall.
01:19I think it was yellow and it changed to red.
01:21The connection not great there from Alley in the weather, so that might have been part of the issue there.
01:26But let's go ahead and take a look at Washington, D.C.
01:28and we'll get into the forecast of what to expect for the rest of the evening with this storm.
01:32That's right, but the theme remains the same here as we have throughout the next 24 to 48 hours.
01:37All the first responders, the people from these various departments of transportation and local city managers,
01:43they've all had the same message.
01:44If you can stay off the roads, that is what's going to be best and that's what's going to be ideal.
01:49So as you take a live look at Washington, D.C., we will see some snowfall, but it's primarily going to be to the south.
01:54So here's the overall set.
01:55The last three hours of radar where we had Alley, right now still ongoing heavy snowfall here across parts of the Virginia coast
02:02and the northern portions of North Carolina.
02:04But we also want to point out there is this band here for central and the southern parts of North Carolina
02:09and northern parts of South Carolina where we still have this band right here of freezing rain, sleet, and ice.
02:15So that is where we're going to see the most dangerous driving conditions,
02:18especially on elevated surfaces such as bridges and overpasses.
02:22Those are always the first ones to freeze because they don't have the ground underneath it to help moderate the temperatures.
02:27You get that cold air underneath the bridge.
02:29Well, that just allows the bridge to cool off a lot quicker than if it was on a steady surface like a regular road right there on the right-hand side of your screen.
02:36Future track radar is showing that as we head into this evening, still tracking that band of freezing rain there across the Carolina coast.
02:43Even as we head into this evening, we will see the heavier bands of rain and snowfall primarily working its way offshore.
02:50But even as we head into the overnight hours, here's midnight, and you can still see some lingering snow, freezing rain, and regular rainfall there off the coast.
02:57But overall, as we head into tonight and the early parts of tomorrow morning, stopping the clock at 6 a.m. Thursday,
03:03most of that mess is off the coast, working its way off.
03:06However, as you look off to the west, you can see this little band right here, this little wave of snowfall that will be moving in.
03:13It's not going to be anywhere near as heavy as this one we are tracking right now.
03:17As you can see in some of those videos there on the right-hand side of your screen, nothing quite like that.
03:21But we will still see some snow flurries that could still add to some accumulation here as we head throughout tomorrow afternoon.
03:28But overall, here as we head into this evening, this storm system's center of low pressure will be working its way across the Midwest,
03:33and that's what's going to bring that heavy snowfall.
03:35But how much snowfall are we expected to see?
03:38Record-breaking totals here are possible across the east coast, including parts of Virginia and North Carolina.
03:43Our AccuWeather local storm max, depending on where these heavier bands line up, we could see over 2 feet of total snowfall here for some of these areas.
03:51Getting a closer view so you can see the actual cities and towns mentioned with this.
03:56So Virginia Beach, Hampton, Franklin, Petersburg even, this is where we're going to see that heavier band of snowfall.
04:03Even Charlottesville will be in on this.
04:05We had a live camera from there earlier, and you can start to see that snowfall is accumulating at the airport over there.
04:10So overall, this darker shade of blue is where we're expecting at least up to a foot of total snowfall possible.
04:15But we will be watching this very carefully.
04:18And yes, unfortunately, there will be a chance of freezing rain and ice.
04:21So here's the overall setup for that.
04:23Any areas in this highlighted region will be capable of seeing dangerous driving conditions.
04:28But it's mainly going to be this center area that we have highlighted here for Aiden, Kingston, Goldsboro, Mount Olive, Clinton, even Bouleville right there.
04:36This is where we're going to see enough of an accumulation to not only create dangerous driving conditions,
04:41we're also going to see possibly power outages possible here because of the ice accumulation on tree branches and power lines.
04:47So Anna, it's going to be a very impactful weather story here, even as this February frenzy comes to a close.