A storm moving up the Eastern Seaboard should be too far off the Virginia coast to bring Richmond much snow on Christmas weekend, experts say.
This area might get up to a half-inch, said James Foster, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
"It doesn't look like a major (storm) system," Foster said.
The snow would fall from Saturday evening to Sunday evening.
The Hampton Roads area could get 1 to 3 inches of snow, Foster said.
Richmond still might have a white Christmas, but it looks like we'll dodge the barrage.
The coming snowstorm appears to be taking an eastward track, which would bring the Richmond area much less snow than initially seemed possible, said Andrew Zimmerman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wakefield.
"That would leave the Richmond area with not much at all," Zimmerman said.
"There could be a little light snow Christmas Day," and into the evening, and perhaps some flurries on Sunday, but there is now no sign of a major snowstorm for central Virginia.
A private forecaster agreed, saying that computer models Thursday afternoon showed the approaching storm moving to the east.
"That pretty much kills the idea of a major snowstorm for central or eastern Virginia," said David Tolleris, a commercial forecaster in Chesterfield County.
Initially, it appeared to be a slower-moving storm that would come into central Virginia late Saturday night and Sunday, which would give the snow more time to accumulate.
"This event comes in much faster, therefore it's a weaker system," Tolleris said.
Zimmerman said localities farther to the east could get several inches of snow, but "probably not any kind of a record."
Tidewater through the Eastern Store could get an accumulation of snow, "but it could just be over the ocean," he added.
Tolleris said he was wary of giving the "all clear" too soon. But even if the storm's track swings back to the west, it looks like Richmond won't get clobbered this Christmas.
acain@timesdispatch.com
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