PETERSBURG The iceman cometh, and boy, has he left a mess.
A band of freezing rain pummeled Petersburg and the surrounding area Saturday, bringing down trees and limbs, making roads extremely slippery, and several thousand residents in the dark. The National Weather Service in Wakefield says by the time it clears out of here Sunday, more than a half-inch of ice could be on the ground.
The storm s threat prompted NWS to issue a rare Ice Storm Warning for Petersburg and the rest of the Tri-City area. Significant icing has been reported, with numerous trees and power lines down across the area, NWS tweeted Saturday. Please don’t venture out if you don’t have to.
The major winter blast that is gripping the nation will reach its peak beginning today and lasting through much of the week with two major storms to track.
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Valentine s Day in Tri-City area means thawing out from up to half-inch of fallen ice
The freezing rain is over, but its aftermath remains. Highways and roads were closed for several hours, and many residents shivered in powerless homes.
The Progress-Index
PETERSBURG The system that rained down as much as a half-inch of ice all over the area has finally moved on, but to say it left a mess behind on Valentine s Day is an understatement.
More than 200,000 Dominion Energy customers were without electricity at the height of the ice storm, according to the tracking website poweroutage.us. As of 2 p.m. Sunday. more than 120,000 were still powerless, the site said.
An even more significant winter storm could hit the same area just glazed over with ice, which led to power outages, deadly car crashes, and record snowfall.