WOW! What A Night – Winter Storm Hits Nelson Hard! : 12.19.09

1
492
©2009 www.nelsoncountylife.com : Photos By Tommy Stafford : After hours & hours of sitting in traffic on Route 151 in Afton Friday night, a steady stream of over 200 cars finally heads home just after midnight. Click to enlarge.
©2009 www.nelsoncountylife.com : Photos By Tommy Stafford : After hours & hours of sitting in traffic on Route 151 in Afton Friday night, a steady stream of over 200 cars finally heads home just after midnight. Click to enlarge.

If you have any snow pictures from around the county as daylight hits, email them to us: snowpics@nelsoncountylife.com We will post them to our site here and on our Facebook page as well as including some of them in our January printed issue out next week.

Nelson County, Virginia
It was promised to be a once in a decade winter storm, and so far it already is! Everyone easily got over 10 or more inches Friday night into Saturday morning, with snow still falling. Many locations across Nelson County already have 15 inches or more of snow accumulation on the ground.

A Winter Storm Warning continues today with an additional 4-8″ of snow expected during the daylight hours before tapering Saturday evening.

Drivers have been the ones hit the hardest. On Route 151 in the Bland Wade Road area, a semi used for hauling turkeys and chickens wrecked or stalled, blocking the southbound side of Route 151 for hours and hours. Motorists sat in their cars with heavy snow falling and temps in the mid 20’s, while volunteers helped the ones they could around the stalled semi and up a steep hill. Many of the drivers were sending NCL messages to our Facebook page letting us know what was happening. At one point an estimated 200 to 300 cars were stacked up from Bland Wade Road north to Afton Service Center at Tanbark Drive and beyond. Around midnight, the road was cleared and a steady stream of cars began slowly heading southbound toward Nellysford.

Heavy snow continued falling overnight Friday into the early morning hours Saturday. Over 15" of snow had already fallen by midnight in many locations.
Heavy snow continued falling overnight Friday into the early morning hours Saturday. Over 15\

Additional trouble spots were encountered on U.S. Route 29N in the vicinity of Ridgecrest Baptist Church, south toward Lovingston near Sunny Mountain Grocery, and in the northern section of Nelson near the Albemarle County Line. Accidents have been so numerous that law enforcement and rescue crews have been overwhelmed. Nelson County Sheriff, David Brooks told us late Friday night that countless cars were abandoned along roadways in Nelson County.

Emergency shelters were opened in several parts of the county Friday night to give people that were trapped on the highways some place to go and get in out of the brutal winter storm.

Conditions are not expected to improved greatly during the day Saturday since more snowfall is expected before tapering off tonight.

We continue to monitor the weather and road conditions around the county. We’ll be updating numerous times throughout the day and evening. Be sure to check Tommy’s Audio Weather often as updates will be posted there as well.

If you have any snow pictures from around the county email them to us: snowpics@nelsoncountylife.com We will post them to our site here and on our Facebook page as well as including some of them in our January printed issue out next week.

1 COMMENT

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here