WDBJ7 Archive: A record December snowfall & surprising winter season

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - So far this winter, we’ve seen single digits on the thermometer and occasional snow.

But the WDBJ7 Archive includes many winters when extreme weather has snarled traffic, closed schools and shut down western Virginia.

This week, Joe Dashiell considers one season when a record December snowfall ushered in a series of impactful storms.

What started with a few flakes on Friday, Dec. 18, 2009 would eventually amount to a foot of snow.

Saturday, Dec. 19 brought almost six inches more.

The total snowfall broke the record for a December storm in Roanoke, and some outlying areas saw even more.

Traffic was barely moving on US 220 near Boones Mill, and not at all on Interstate 81 in Rockbridge County.

The storm stranded air travelers at the Roanoke airport.

And it didn’t end there. A late January storm brought another nine and a half inches.

And three more rounds in February delivered 13 more inches, making the winter of 2009-2010, a season to remember in western Virginia.