SNOW OBSERVATIONS
 
West Henrico Co. - Springfield Park - Glen Allen, VA Snowfall 2014-2015
Winter's Total    14.7 inches
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Days with any measurable snow during the winter
Rating = Snowstorms must be greater than 1 inch of snow.
 1  Nov.  13  Trace  Event 1 Sleet
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 A coastal low pressure developing on a cold front that had passed the Glen Allen area was responsible for the light precipitation. A trace of sleet ocurred between 2235 and 2245 and turned to snow from 2300 to 2320 but all melted shortly after contact as even colder surfaces were too warm.  Snow on Sky Mirror
 2  Nov.  26  Trace  Event 2 Sleet
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  A coastal low pressure developing near FL on a stationary front that was responsible for the 1.29 inches of precipitation. Only about 0.03 inch of this precipitation fell as frozen precipitation and it melted as it fell. The lowest temperature during the event was 34.7°F. Sleet started at 1145 at 36.9°F and became snow around 1450 at 36.2°F. The hardest snow fell around 1515 at 34.7°F and stopped at 1520 at 34.7°F followed by a short period of sleet at 1545 at 35.0°F. By 1600 the precipitation had become rain and the temperature was 35.3°F.  Snow slush on Sky Mirror was never enough to measure
 3  Dec.  30  Trace  Event 3  No  A few snow pellets fell between 9:13AM and 9:30AM and melted as they fell as the temperature was 36.3°F to 36.6°F during that period of time.
 4  Jan  14  0.1  Event 4 Yes  A very little freezing drizzle started at 2235 and continued through midnight until 0435 when the heaviest period of drizzle occurred that ended around 1455. Then light sleet continued to 0630 and stopped. The freezing drizzle continued for a little more than half an hour and added another 0.01 inch of frozen drizzle. When it was all over we had about 0.05 inch of glaze and 0.1 inch of sleet.
 5  Jan  15  0.2  Event 5  No  A surprise dusting of 0.2 inch of fluffy light snow fell between 12:05 AM and 2:45 AM. The snow water ratio was 20:1 and yielded only 0.01 inch of liquid.
 6  Jan  26-27  1.7 Storm 1 Yes  Time the rain started 01-26-2015 at 0125 and lasted to 1115 that totaled 0.32 inches The snow started 01-26-2015 at 2038 and ended at 2355 totaled 0.01 inches of liquid and 0.2 inches of snow. The snow started again at 0500 on 01-27-2015 The snow ended again at 0920 on 01-27-2015 giving an additional 1.5 inches. Snow flurries from 1150 to 1210 but no accumulation (0.4 snow lost by melting by this time) Total precipitation for the storm was 0.43 inches; of this 0.11 inches was in the form of snow. Total snowfall in the storm was 1.7 inches. The snow to liquid equivalent was 15.5 to 1. The maximum snowfall intensity occurred from 0650 to 0701 on 01-27-2015.
 7  Feb  10  T  Event 6 Yes  After 0.26 of rain from midnight the rain mixed with light snow at 0355 with a temperature of 32.4°F. Precipitation was still mainly rain until around 0500 when the sleet became moderate for a short time. The lowest temperature during the precipitation was 32.2°F from 0635 to 0655. The heaviest accumulation of sleet was around 0645 but was too little sleet to measure and some of the sleet was melting as it fell. The precipitation became very light and ended at 0850. the temperature fell below freezing at 0830 and reached the minimum of 31.0°F between 0950 and 1005 and a glaze formed on colder objects. Then the temperature started increasing until it went above freezing at noon. The total precipitation was 0.17 inches from the first snow that fell until the precipitation ended but some of this amount was rain.
 8  Feb  12  T  Event 7 Snow
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 The high temperature for the February 12, 2015 was 47.1°F that occurred at 1:29 PM. The passage of an Arctic cold front passed the Glen Allen area at approximately 1:50 PM. A moderate snow shower commenced quickly at 1:49pm. It was very unusual to have snow at such a high temperature but the temperature did proceed to fall rapidly once the snow started. The snow continued at a moderate rate for about five minutes before tapering off to a light snowfall and then flurries that ended at about 2:45 PM. All of the snow melted pretty much as it fell and the total liquid was 0.02 inches. The only place that I observed any whiteness from accumulation was a small shadowed cold exposed soil in the garden at about 1:54PM. There was also a little slush left on the colder glass surface of the sky mirror at 2:15pm.
 9  Feb  14  0.1  Event 8 Snow
squall
 A strong Arctic front passed Glen Allen at 2000 and preceding the front at 1923 the snow started and lasted until 2005. The snow was associated with a very strong wind with gust to 36 mph here and Bill in Portsmouth had a gust of 51 mph. The Richmond area had 40,000 customers without power after this squall moved through.
 10  Feb  16-17  6.2 Storm 2 Yes  Time the Precipitation started 02-16-2015 at 1345 and ended 02-17-2015 at 0615. Maximum one hour snowfall intensity was 1.2 inches 02-16-2015 between 2000 - 2100. Very easy storm to take measurments on as it had hardly any wind and small flakes made a smooth surface. The snow to liquid equivalent ratio at 2130 was 10 to 1 and a core sample at 2400 on the 02-16-2015 gave a liquid amount of 0.58 inches. Total snowfall to MT 02-16-2015 midnight was 5.3 inches and the liquid equivalent ratio to midnight was 9.1 to 1. Total liquid precipitation in the storm was 0.80 inches and total snowfall for the storm was 6.2 inches.The snow to liquid equivalent ratio for the storm was 7.8 to 1 From midnight forward very small icy pellets with rough edges and Irregular shapes and not round like sleet (a half breed between sleet and snow pellets). (Nature not matching man's classifications) In short as the storm continued the water equivalent decreased as the snow fell in more of an icy form.
 11  Feb  18  T  Event 9 Snow
shower
 A very strong Arctic front with air that was original over Siberia passed Glen Allen at 1900. A brief snow flurry preceded the front at 1830 and ended at 1835.
 12  Feb  21  0.2  Event 10  No  Precipitation started as snow at 1220 and last about 10 minutes. The precipitation started again as snow at 1340 and lasted about 50 minutes before changing over to sleet. After turning to sleet it was rain and sleet mixed by 1800 and then just rain and a light glaze was observered before melting with above freezing temperatures and moderate rain. The heaviest period of rain was from 2125 to 2255 with 0.85 inches of precipitation by midnight. After midnight and additional 0.33 inches of rain was recorded. Reports of up to 10 inches of snow fell in the Shenandoah Valley and western VA.
 13  Feb  22  T  Event 11  No  Only a very light snow flurry in Glen Allen that started around 1800 and lasted only about five minutes. The temperature was 26.3°F at the time of the flurry.
 14  Feb  26  4.7 Storm 3 Yes   This was Glen Allen's 3 storm of the winter and all three had little wind making it easy to measure the snow. The storm was just a little less than a 10 hour storm starting at 0100. The snow was steady through much of the storm from 0200 to 0600 with an average of 0.8 inches per hour. The heaviest snowfall intensity was 0.9 inches between 0300 and 0400. The most unusual thing about this storm was the period from 0400-0500 with about 75% of the snow crystals falling as needles. I can not remember a storm with so many of the snow crystals falling as needels. It was also easy to shovel as the snow to liquid equivalent ratio was 11.5 to 1. I also put in a video showing the elongated crystals needles that fell between 0400 and 0500 and a tour of the snow equipment in the back yard. 0415 movie showing the elongated crystals needles
 15  Mar  5  1.5 Storm 4 Yes  This snow was very icy with a lot of sleet graupel and heavy riming. A core sample of the 1.5 inches had 0.41 inches of liquid. The snow to liquid equivalent ratio was 3.7 to 1. Much of the storm fell as rain with a liquid total of 1.01 inches for the day. Accumulating sleet didn't start until about 1300.
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