Fast forecast
Heavy snow is ahead for the Fredericksburg region on Tuesday:
- Snow starts around midday
- Will begin accumulating rapidly in late afternoon
- 6-8 inches common before ending late Tuesday night
Snow moves into the Fredericksburg region around lunchtime, so if you have errands to run on Tuesday morning, you should be fine. By late afternoon, snowfall rates will pick up, and with the sun on the way down, accumulation will occur more rapidly.
Temperatures will hover in the lower 30s during the snowfall, so well-treated primary roads will probably be OK late Tuesday afternoon and early evening. But less-traveled secondary and neighborhood roads will begin to become snow-covered by sunset.
There’s not a lot of wiggle room with the temperatures in this storm, as some sleet is likely to mix in, especially late at night. A tiny nudge could bump accumulations as high as 7-10 inches, or as low as 3-6 inches. Regardless of specific numbers, plan on plowable snow with accumulation rates picking up in late afternoon. Evening travel will become challenging on untreated roads.
Nonetheless, this is not an ice storm. As a result, power outages are not expected to become widespread.
Wednesday morning temperatures will be near 30 degrees, so roads and surfaces will be slushy-slick more than icy-slick. Soaking rain is expected to return Wednesday afternoon into Thursday morning, which will melt some snow on the ground. But the remaining snow will become especially heavy and slushy as a result of the rain.
Night-time temperatures this week will hold near or above 30 degrees, so there will not be a repeat of the icy cold spell of January.
Sean Sublette is a Virginia-based meteorologist and owner of Sublette Weather and Consulting.
