Winter weather coming to the Shenandoah Valley, Central Virginia

A winter weather system is forecasted to bring rain changing to snow in the Shenandoah Valley. The rain will begin late on Sunday, March 11 and change over to all snow overnight.

Heavier snow is forecasted for the southern end of the Staunton District, which covers Frederick, Shenandoah, Clarke, Warren, Page, Rockingham, Augusta, Highland, Rockbridge, Alleghany and Bath counties. Higher elevations are expected to have more snow than the Valley floor but motorists should be prepared for winter weather driving conditions throughout the region.

Because the storm is expected to begin as rain the Virginia Department of Transportation Staunton District will not pretreat roads for this winter weather event. VDOT will have crews out beginning Sunday night and into the day on Monday.  Crews will plow and treat roads as the weather moves into the area.

For this storm drivers should expect:

• Higher snow amounts the farther south you drive beginning in the pre-dawn hours of Monday.
• Increasing snow amounts and more icing conditions in higher elevations.
• Icing conditions on bridges and overpasses.
• Refreezing and black ice overnight Monday into Tuesday morning.
• Travelers should always buckle their seat belts and drivers should always be alert and use extreme cation.

Travelers are asked to monitor local weather forecasts and to avoid driving if possible during the snow storm.

Road conditions and traffic cameras can be found on the VDOT 511 website at http://www.511Virginia.org, Roads with snow conditions will be marked minor, moderate, severe or closed.

Road condition definitions:

Closed – Road is closed to all traffic.

Severe – drifting or partially blocked road.

Moderate – snow or ice on major portions of the roadway.

Minor – bare pavement except for isolated spots of snow, ice or slush.  Driving with caution is recommended.

For a text listing of winter weather road conditions go to www.511Virginia.org, look at the orange bar on the top of the page and click on “Text Views” and then click on “Road Condition Table”. Look at the pull down box that lists all jurisdictions.  In this box individual counties can be chosen to view.

On the go?  Then visit VDOT’s Free Virginia 511 Tools to get your 511 app for android or iOS. Traffic alerts and traveler information can be obtained by dialing 511.

The VDOT Customer Service Center can be accessed through its mobile friendly website at my.vdot.virginia.gov. Agents are on site 24/7 every day of the year to assist the public. People can also call the VDOT Customer Service Center at 800-FOR- ROAD (800-367-7623).

The Staunton District Snow Page is on the VDOT website under Travel Center Snow Emergency Pages. The Staunton District Twitter feed is at @VaDOTStaunton.

VDOT statewide Twitter messages can be found at @VaDOT. The nine districts can be found at:Hampton Roads  @VaDOTHR; Richmond @VaDOTRVA; Northern Virginia @VaDOTNOVA;  Fredericksburg @VaDOTFred; Culpeper @VaDOTCulp; Lynchburg  @VaDOTLynchburg; Bristol @VaDOTBristol; Salem @VaDOTSalem; Staunton  @VaDOTStaunton.

The VDOT Staunton District serves Frederick, Shenandoah, Clarke, Warren, Page, Rockingham, Augusta, Highland, Rockbridge, Alleghany and Bath counties.