Update: Storm brought 7-plus inches of snow to parts of area

11:30 a.m. update:

Up to seven inches of snow piled up Sunday in the Lynchburg area, but it already was disappearing rapidly by late this morning. 

Temperatures had climbed to the low 40s by 11 a.m. and are expected to top out at about 45 degrees today.

Around 11 a.m., over 3,600 Appalachian Power customers in the Lynchburg area remained without power, according to the company's website. Bedford County had over 2,000 customers without power and Lynchburg had just over 650. Outtages in Amherst County were 830, customers and in Nelson County, just over 100.

Snowfall total numbers from the National Weather Service showed parts of the area received up to seven inches of snow. 

As of about 9 p.m. Sunday night, Amherst had seven inches and the Evergreen area of Appomattox County had about five inches. Forest registered 7.4 inches shortly after 8 p.m., and the Timberlake area of Campbell County registered 7.2 inches at about 11 p.m. 

At about 8:30 p.m., snow in Bedford measured six inches, and shortly after 10 p.m., Lynchburg had registered 7.7 inches of snow. 

Earlier:

 Virginia Department of Transportation is reporting as of 10:30 a.m., major roads across the Lynchburg District of VDOT are generally clear of snow and crews are continuing to work on secondary routes.  The Lynchburg District includes the counties of Amherst, Appomattox, Buckingham, Campbell, Charlotte, Cumberland, Halifax, Nelson, Pittsylvania and Prince Edward.

With the help of warmer temperatures and sunshine, conditions are rapidly improving; however, any moisture left on the roads due to melting will  likely refreeze overnight and into the early hours of Tuesday.

 Caution is urged.

Earlier

For most of Sunday, the first winter storm of the season in Central Virginia proved a considerate visitor.

Although the snow began falling early in the afternoon, the roads remained wet and snow-free untll just after 5 p.m. But anyone with weather experience knew that was destined to be only a temporary respite.

“Once the sun goes down,” said WSLS Channel 10 chief meteorologist Jeff Haniewich earlier in the afternoon, “the accumulation on the roads is going to start very quickly.”

Which was not news to Lynchburg Public Works director Dave Owen.

“We had crews putting chemicals down on the main roads around 2,” Owen said, “so that we could have that base down when the snow started to stick.”

Around 4, a dispatcher at the Lynchburg Communications Center reported a quiet, virtually accident-free Sunday. That changed quickly when the temperature dropped, however — within minutes, reports went out of numerous accidents, almost all of the fender-bender variety.

For example, around 6 p.m., cars were spinning or stuck on Timberlake Road in Lynchburg near Tiny Town Golf. Around 7 p.m., cars were stuck and sliding on the U.S. 29 bypass between Amherst and the Virginia 130 exit.

The weather system approached from the southwest, with southern moisture meeting cold air from the north.

“So far, it’s been tracking and behaving pretty much the way we expected,” Haniewich said Sunday afternoon. “It’s not really a slow-moving storm, but it’s big, so it’s going to take a while to move out of here.”

As of 7 p.m., Lynchburg and the surrounding counties were expected to receive anywhere from 2-4 additional inches of wet snow.

“We have a shift change at 2 a.m.,” Owen said, “so we’ll have crews out there all night working. We’ve got two barns full of chemicals, because we haven’t had to use any this year. We’re hoping we won’t have to go into the residential streets tonight, but we’re ready if we need to.”

The fact that the snowfall happened on a Sunday was an added bonus.

“No after-work traffic,” Owen said, “and there’s a school holiday tomorrow.”

He was referring to Lynchburg City Schools, which were already scheduled to be closed for a work day. Most other school systems are also closed today, due to the weather.

Elsewhere in Virginia, a traffic accident closed all lanes of northbound Interstate 95 in Prince George County near the interchange with Interstate 295, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation.

As the winter storm has dumped several inches of snow on parts of the South, about 20 vehicles were involved in crashes along a three-mile stretch of Interstate 75 in northern Tennessee, according to the Associated Press.

The eight crashes were original reported as a chain-reaction pileup that involved 10 to 15 vehicles including multiple tractor-trailers and a Greyhound bus. Police said a juvenile was seriously injured.

Tennessee Highway Patrol Sgt. Stacy Heatherly said the crashes were reported shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday in near “white-out” conditions caused by heavy snowfall and fog. All lanes of Interstate 75 had reopened by early evening.

The weather service was predicting several inches of snow to fall on parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. The storm system was expected to move off the Mid-Atlantic coast on Sunday night.