RICHMOND, Va. -- A major winter storm will impact Virginia late Sunday through Monday.
Winter storm warnings or winter weather advisories have been issued for the majority of the Commonwealth.
The storm will spread some snow into the region Sunday evening. Due to dry air in place, the first few hours of snow showing up on radar may actually evaporate before reaching the surface. Snow should make it to the ground by mid to late evening, and continue through midnight.
As some warmer air above the surface moves into the region, the snow will mix with and change to sleet (ice pellets). An accumulation of snow and sleet will occur Sunday night into Monday morning.
The layer of warm air will expand, which will allow for freezing rain. This is rain that falls as a liquid, but then freezes when it makes contact with the ground, which is below freezing.
The warmer air will continue increasing Monday, and this may change things over to plain rain, especially for the metro and points south. Some snow and a wintry mix will continue well north of I-64.
As the storm system moves to the east late Monday, it will wrap cold air in behind it. This will switch any precipitation back to all snow. The exact strength and position of the storm will dictate how long the snow lasts.
Snowfall accumulations will depend on the exact track of the storm, which is currently in the western and central parts of the United States. A shift in storm track of just 50 miles is the difference between some areas seeing all snow or all rain.
As of now, it looks like we will have some snow and sleet accumulation Sunday evening and Sunday night. The transition to freezing rain will wash away some of that snow, but will also put down an icy glaze on untreated surfaces.
Temperatures should get above freezing Monday in the metro and points south.
Additional snow later in the day will provide more accumulations.
Here's is our snow forecast map. Keep in mind, some of these grand totals will be made of up two different periods of snow accumulation (with mix and rain in between). For some locations, this will not be the total amount on the ground by Monday night, since some of it will have been washed away by rain.
Untreated surfaces will remain icy on Tuesday. While dry weather is expected the rest of the week, temperatures will not rise much above freezing during the day. Any snow or ice that melts in the sun will refreeze after sunset. This thaw/freeze cycle may continue through the week.
We will continue to post more updates on our weather page.
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Hour-by-hour look at winter storm's impact on Virginia
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