Snow threat passes for Richmond

Remember that forecast for light snow in Richmond today? Forget it.

The National Weather Service has changed its forecast and is now calling for clear skies in the area until at least Friday.

The changing forecast was a result of two factors, said Mike Rusnak, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Wakefield office.

“A low-pressure center actually tracked across North Carolina a little too far to the south to affect central Virginia,“ he said. “We also had some drier air move in from the north. And the drier air won out for the most part.“

That means that the Richmond area, instead of receiving up to an inch of snow this eveing, will merely get cold, dry air. A low of 18 is forecast tonight.

Farther south, however, some of Virginia’s southern border counties got up to 2 inches of snow. Rusnak said Emporia got about an inch, and Virginia Beach could get an inch or less before the precipitation moves out into the Atlantic Ocean.

The brunt of the storm was felt even farther south in North Carolina. The Raleigh area, for example, got up to 5 inches, Rusnak said.

— Joe Macenka