Update: Main roads clear of snow

Update: 12:15 p.m.

Clearing skies and warming temperatures greeted Lynchburg area residents Sunday morning.

Main roads were clear and mostly dry, while many neighborhoods and back roads had been plowed, making travel easier as the temperatures rose and melted icy patches.

Large mounds of snow dot the parking lot of Wards Crossing Sunday morning, but there were plenty of cleared parking spots. Mark Bailey/The News & Advance

The hills of Oakwood Country Club in Lynchburg proved popular Saturday afternoon. Nick Adams/The News & Advance

Earlier
As a heavy snowstorm dumped more than two feet of snow just hours north of Lynchburg, Central Virginia was largely spared the wrath of its third major snowstorm within less than two months.

As the snow died down into minor flurries Saturday morning, Central Virginians resumed the routine becoming all too familiar — digging out.

In Lynchburg, the main arteries and many side streets were clear, a result of constant plowing and temperatures settling just above freezing.

Ella Brown, of Forest, spent a chunk of her day shoveling her gravel driveway, off of Forest Road, near Thomas Jefferson Road.

“This is the worst I’ve seen,” Brown said of the constant snow pileups.

But for Brown, a lifelong county resident, the inconvenience of having to shovel out wasn’t enough to detract from the beauty of the county, especially under layers of white.

“I love the snow. I think the snow is the most tranquil thing there is,” she said. “It quiets down everybody, and I always say this is God’s way of saying ‘Okay, I want you to be still for a little while.’”

The overcast, near-freezing temperatures also gave dozens of area residents the perfect excuse to head to the golf links.

The hills at Oakwood Country club, packed with snow, provided the perfect carpet for sledding, skiing and even snowboarding.

Kylie Kennedy said she and her husband, Michael, moved to Lynchburg from Washington. Both now work at Liberty University.

“I was kind of expecting more calm winters,” she said, adding “It’s nice having this much snow. Kind of closer to home.”

Ten-year-old Virginia Hicks, who moved from Jackson, Miss., with her family, said the recent snow is the most she’s ever seen.

“My mom said she thinks she’s living in a snow globe,” she said.

As of Saturday morning, the National Weather Service in Blacksburg listed the total snowfall for the area well under earlier predictions.

Lynchburg stood at just more than 6 inches of accumulated snow. Bedford County reported 15 inches of snow at Stewartsville and 8.2 inches at Forest.

Amherst received 9.3 inches, Appomattox reported 7 inches and Campbell County reported 5.3 inches at Woodlawn, with 4 inches at Brookneal.

Nelson County, which had been predicted to receive upward of 20 inches, at noon reported 13.3 inches near the town of Elma.

Meteorologist Dennis Sleighter said the decreased totals were a product of warmer air lower in the atmosphere, despite measured temperatures hovering near freezing.

Sleighter said the warmer air never made its way to Washington, D.C., where more than two feet of snow was measured as of noon.

Despite power outage numbers spiking overnight and during the day, power companies reported a very manageable number of outages Saturday evening.

Greg Kelly, with Central Virginia Electric Cooperative, estimated 392 without power in Nelson County.

Appalachian Power Company reported 477 outages in Campbell County as of 7 p.m., 108 in Bedford County and 101 in Lynchburg.

Higher outages during the day led Red Cross officials to open an emergency shelter in Bedford County, but spokesperson Melissa Waugh said no one had taken advantage of the shelter as of 6:30 p.m.

She said the shelter would stay open overnight for anyone who needed to use it.

Abby Hall, 10, left, and Carson Reeves, 9, sit in the shadow of a tree at Oakwood County Club as they take a break from sliding.

A dog its on a porch and watchs traffic on Link Road in Lynchburg.

Zylann Brown, 12, shovels snow off his family’s driveway in Forest.