In case you missed it, Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow earlier this month – essentially guaranteeing an early spring…
Truth be told, rodents are not reliable sources of weather information. In fact, ole Phil has gottenit right only three times over the last decade.
But with a couple of unseasonable warm stretches already behind us this winter, maybe the rodent has a point.
Most areas across the state are behind on their seasonal snowfall totals this winter. I’ve compiled that data below from the National Weather Service...
You’ll notice that Blacksburg specifically is way behind the 30-year normal that we would “normally” see up until this point in the winter. The snow totals so far mostly came from one system back at the beginning of the year.
There’s still time to catch up. Meteorological spring doesn’t begin until March 1st, and we are looking colder this week and beyond than earlier this month. There are also parts of Virginia that have recorded snow in March and April in previous years.
And while totals so far this winter are down from historical averages, most locations have already surpassed totals seen during the 2022-2023 winter – which were historically low in some places.
Right now, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is projecting slightly above normal precipitation levels for most of the state over the next three months. Areas along and north of Interstate 64 are projected to be slightly above average temperature-wise, though.
All that being said, it really only takes one good snowstorm for a locality to hit its average annual snowfall total, so that is still a possibility albeit less and less likely as we get closer to spring.
Another thing to note – those unseasonably warm stretches I mentioned above were also pretty dry. Right now, only a tiny portion of far southwest Virginia is considered abnormally dry, but that could expand if we don’t see significant precipitation going forward (even though that goes against that projection I just mentioned).
Virginia’s 4pm burning law will go into effect this week, continuing until April 30th. State officials implemented the measure back in the 1940s to cut down on spring wildfires. Elevated winds and lower relative humidity levels can increase the fire risk during the late winter and early spring.
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