Much of Virginia is digging out from an unpredictable winter storm that brought holiday travel to a near halt with more than a foot of snow in some parts of the state and wind gusts causing near-whiteout conditions.
The Atlantic coast was hit hardest, with high winds and snow causing hazardous driving conditions into Sunday night as a low-pressure system moved north. An NFL game was postponed in Philadelphia, and airports in New York City alone canceled close to 1,000 flights.
Richmond set a snowfall record for Dec. 26 (Sunday) with 3.8 inches reported at Richmond International Airport. The previous record was 3.5 inches, set in 1917.
Up to 7 inches of snow fell in the Richmond area, although the depth varied across the region. Richmond International Airport canceled about one-third of its flights on Sunday and expected more planes to be grounded early today.
"If I had a flight to Boston in the morning, I’d be a little bit nervous," said airport spokesman Troy Bell, who advised travelers to check flight information before leaving for the airport.
Train service was disrupted again today between Richmond and Washington, and about 50 travelers remained stranded temporarily Sunday at the Greyhound bus terminal in Richmond. By Sunday evening, bus service had resumed, but the remaining passengers had been offered warm buses to sleep in Sunday night and the assistance of the American Red Cross of Greater Richmond.
"For the majority of the day, we’ve been stopped, down to Charlotte and all the way up to Canada," said Maureen Richmond, spokeswoman for Greyhound Lines Inc. "It’s been quite a doozy."
Hazardous driving conditions kept both Virginia State Police and Virginia Department of Transportation crews busy. State police had responded to 345 traffic crashes in eastern Virginia by 5 p.m. on Sunday, as well as 161 in the Richmond region. No fatalities were reported.
VDOT urged people to stay off the roads as long as they could to allow almost 3,000 workers to clear highways. Even plowed roads carried a danger of black ice with temperatures
The National Weather Service warned of near-whiteout conditions on Sunday night because of blowing snow, primarily in southeastern Virginia, where accumulations were expected to top a foot. A blizzard warning was posted Sunday evening for the Eastern Shore, with an additional 3 to 7 inches of snow and blowing snow expected.
The travel misery began Christmas Day in the South. Delta and US Airways canceled 15 flights between Richmond and Atlanta on Saturday. Bell said 48 flights were canceled by midafternoon Sunday, primarily to and from Atlanta and New York.
The NFL postponed until Tuesday a game scheduled Sunday night between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Minnesota Vikings in Philadelphia, where the mayor declared a snow emergency.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell declared an emergency Saturday afternoon to allow time for up to 250 soldiers in the Virginia National Guard to get in place to help local and state emergency operations. About 100 soldiers were scouting road conditions on Sunday in Hampton Roads.
Maryland and North Carolina declared emergencies by early Sunday, and the Northeast braced for blizzard conditions into today because of heavy snow and gusting winds. Up to 20 inches of snow was forecast for Boston and eastern Massachusetts, and more than a foot was expected in New York City.
It was a Christmas for the record books in the South, where Columbia, S.C., had its first significant Christmas snow since records first were kept in 1887. Atlanta had more than an inch, the first measurable accumulation on Christmas Day since the 1880s.
mmartz@timesdispatch.com
(804) 649-6964
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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