PRINCETON — Many local roads were scraped and dry Monday, but commuters will want to watch this morning for winter’s latest round of snow, sleet and rain for the region where the Virginias meet.
Mercer, McDowell and Monroe counties in West Virginia were under a winter weather advisory Tuesday along with Tazewell, Bland, Buchanan and Giles counties in Virginia. One to three inches of snow was expected today with another one to two inches tonight.
“It looks like precip (precipitation) could start pretty early tomorrow, by 4 a.m., but it could start any time after midnight,” said meteorologist Marc Chenar. “It could even start between 4 and 7 a.m.”
How much snow Southwest Virginia and southern West Virginia will receive will depend on how much sleet is mixed in the precipitation, Chenar said.
“You could have snow in the morning, probably mixing with sleet, especially in Tazewell County,” he added.
The snow and sleet arriving in the more eastern areas such as McDowell County and Buchanan County, Va., could receive a push of warmer air that turns the sleet and snow into rain.
“As you go further east, there will mainly be snow,” he said.
Some “pockets of freezing rain” are possible, but mostly snow and sleet were expected in Mercer County. If all the precipitation falls as snow, then up to five inches of snow would be possible, Chenar said.
Last weekend’s outpouring of snow and sleet was a heavy mix that soon froze into ice. There were reports of awnings and other structures collapsing under its weight.
In Princeton, one resident experienced how much damage heavy snow and ice can do when a large sheet of it slid off her roof and knocked over her home’s chimney.
“It was Saturday evening about 3 or 4 o’clock (p.m.),” said Mrs. Marion Kessinger of Mahood Avenue. “The snow slid off the roof, slid down and hit this big chimney. It crashed over into the back room ceiling, and then it broke through the rafters in the back room and the ceiling cracked up.”
Kessinger said she was at the other end of the house, but the impact and air it suddenly displaced literally made her fall.
“The pressure from all that knocked me to the floor. I sprained my ankle a little bit, but it is all right,” she said. “If I had been under it, I don’t know what would have happened. It was so strong, the noise, that everybody on the street heard it.”
Kessinger wanted other people in the area to beware of heavy snow on their homes and other structures; it can make structures collapse, or slide off suddenly, causing damage and possibly injuring people caught under it.
To make room for vehicles and pedestrians, street departments in both Virginias were scooping up plowed snow and hauling it away in trucks. In Princeton, employees at the Public Works Garage had been working to clear the streets and get rid of snow while making plans to be out Monday night.
“We’re in the process of doing (clearing) the lower end of Mercer Street again,” said Assistant Supervisor Jackie Phillips. “And we just got through doing Mercer and Honaker (Avenue) and we’re probably going to work again tonight. We’re going to treat the roads and be prepared, because you never know.”
Cold temperatures caused other problems besides transportation worries and weakened structures. In downtown Bluefield, the city’s fire department had to deal with a broken water line in an apartment building.
“A water line going to a sprinkler line froze and busted,” said Capt. Glenn Supthin. “It (leakage) was pretty limited.” No apartments were affected.
Schools across the Virginias region lost another day of classtime Monday. For Mercer County, it was the 14th school day lost to inclement weather.
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February 8, 2010
Region braces for another round of wintery weather
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