SNOW OBSERVATIONS
 

Glen Allen Snowfall for 2008-2009 Winter's Total     11.6 inches
BACK TO CURRENT SNOW TABLE						SNOWS OF PAST WINTERS
Days	Snow Month	Snow Day	Total Snow Inches	Rating	Houly Obs. Table	Remarks
Days with any measurable snow during the winter
Rating = Snowstorms must be greater than 1 inch of snow.
1	Nov.	18	T	Event 1	No	There were three periods of flurries today but the snow flurry between 1503-1506 was the only one where flakes could be seen being blown around on the wooden deck. The other two were hardly discernible.
2	Dec.	1	T	Event 2	No	Virga were seen today before the shower that lasted from 1405 to 1435. At about 1420 ice was observed in the precipitation that looked like large grains of sleet. The period of sleet lasted from about 30 seconds to no longer than one minute.
3	Dec.	6	0.4	Event 3	Yes	VERY light snow started at 1715 and lasted until 2100. Snow is melting as it fell on cement walks and streets. It stuck to the colder surfaces on grass tuffs, leaves, wooden decks, and mulched areas and ended with a little sleet mixed in with the snow. The maximum snow depth occurred at 2045 and was 0.4 inches on the wooden deck.
4	Dec.	31	T	Event 4	No	Virga were seen earlier in the afternoon but between 1432 and 1435 a snow flurry occurred at a temperature of 43 °F which was the second highest temperature that I have observed a snow flurry. Of course it melted on contact and was enough to register 1 of 15 on the precipitation sensor.
5	Jan.	2	T	Event 5	No	Very light sleet between 0840 and 0850 and snow pellets occurred between 0945 and 0950. There was also a light period of snow from 1044 to 1050. But the total was only a trace as the temperature was between 33 °F and 35 °F during the period of frozen precipitation and melting was occurring. This precipitation ended as a period of rain between 1120 and 1220. The total of liquid precipitation was 0.04 inches.
6	Jan	19	T	Event6	No	This was and extremely light period of snow flurries that occurred between 0835 and 0840. There was also a sprinkle from 1005 to 1008. But both of these were less than 0.01 inches melted or just a slight trace.
7	Jan	26	T	Event 7	No	The snow flurry started at 0947 and lasted only a few minutes and then other light flurries occurred off and on until 1005. The temperature was just below 32 °F during most of the flurry activity and enough fell that it could be seen on the snow board but was less than 0.1 inches and it had all melted by 1025 and was less than 0.01 inches melted.
8	Jan	27	0.3	Event 8	Yes	Precipitation started as rain at 0729 and then turned to sleet which was followed by about five minutes of snow. The sleet then became moderate and gave most of the recorded 0.3 inches the maximum measurement before the sleet started mixing with rain at 0940. It was then freezing rain and by dark about 0.1 inch of glaze was measured. The following morning on the top of colder metal surfaces a maximum of 0.3 inches of glaze was recorded.
9	Feb	3	1.3	Storm 1	Yes	Precipitation started as rain 2047 and the rain turned to snow before midnight. The snowfall was fairly steady during the snow event but the temperature never fell below freezing. Much of the snow melted as it fell. Snowfall totals were very different for observers with snowboards and those who measured the snow on the ground as the ground was warm from yesterday's sun and Maximum temperature of 65 °F.
10	Feb	4	T	Event 9	No	Two very light snow flurries this afternoon from 1545 to 1548 and from 1657 to 1700. Both of these were so light the precipitation sensor didn't sense the moisture content but both were visually observed.
11	Feb	18	0.1	Event 10	No	A short period of VERY light precipitation between 0645 and ended by 0655. Then at 0720 light sleet fell but was melting as it fell with no accumulation as the temperature was 39 °F when the sleet started. Then the sleet change over to snow and it snowed at a moderate intensity at the end of which I was able to measure 0.1 inches of snow on the coldest of surfaces. Also areas with mulch and bare ground became white at the end of this period of snow but the temperature never went lower than 34.2 °F. Then light snow mixed with rain and became all rain by 0900. By 0930 all of the snow had melted.
12	Feb	28	T	Event 11	Yes	The precipitation started as rain at 1323 and became mixed with snow at 2010 after 0.16 of rain had fallen . A moderate period of sleet fell between 2150 and 2200 but still not enough to measure and then returned to a mix of snow and rain. The temperature didn't fall to freezing until after midnight but a drizzle continued after midnight and formed a thin glaze by daybreak.
13	Mar	1-2	9.0	Storm2	Yes	Click this link to see a time lapse movie of the snow accumulation This was the biggest snow I have seen since February 11th and 12th 2006 in Northern VA before moving to the Richmond area. But for the people in western Richmond area this was the largest snow they had seen since since January 25, 2000. The Richmond International Airport first reported 5.7 inches that was later revised to 6.3 inches. I got this information from the Wakefield branch of the Weather Service. A Cooperative Weather Observer near the airport reported a much larger amount thus they felt the airport observation was in error and so increased the amount to 6.3 inches. I couldn't find out who does the snow measurements for the airport but if anyone knows I would be interested. I did find the observer is not paid to make the observations but that Norfolk, VA has a paid observer. This would be an interesting weather investigation to see if the individual had any training in making snow measurements and if they even have a snowboard to make measurements on. The comment was made that airports are such large open areas that the wind would blow the snow off of the snowboard. However, not all snows are associated with wind and often the wind isn't strong until the snow stops and the pressure starts rising after the storm. So the end result not much was said about this snowstorm because the airport records are used as the basis and at the airport it was only the largest snow since February 27 2003 when 6.5 inches was recorded.
14	Mar	13	0.5	Event 12	Yes	This was another event where it was too warm for the snow to accumulate as the temperature never dropped below 33.1 °F during the snow. The maximum snow depth of 0.5 inches occurred at 0900 after the hour of the lowest temperatures but snow was melting as it fell during the whole event. If the temperatures were in the 20's we would have had about three inches.
		Total=	11.6	Inches
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