The Winter of 2009-2010
Snowstorms of This Winter-Click here Snowstorms of Past Winters-Click here
Obs. Num. Time of Observation February
05  2010
Total Frozen Precip. Inches Total Melted Precip. Inches Temp. °F Remarks for the Time Period
   0      0825 hrs.    0.0   0.00  34.2  Very fine light snow started.
   1      0930 hrs.   0.2  0.02   32.9  Evaporative cooling is causing a temperature drop. The dew point is 30.0 °F which should increase as the temperature falls and they should meet around 32.5°F once the air is saturated.
   2      1030 hrs.   0.7  0.07  32.8   It is too warm for the snow to stick to the street and house driveways as can be seen by the north court web camera. This snow is falling on an old snow base of 4.0 inches. The flakes are now mainly light small aggregates of broken crystals.
   3      1130 hrs.   1.2  0.12  33.0  The temperature has risen 0.2 °F in the past hour and the snow sleet line is now very close to the Glen Allen - Springfield Park area as indicated by radar. The radar also indicates heavier precipitation in the next 30 minutes but the snow may mix with sleet during the next hour!
   4      1230 hrs.   1.8  0.19  32.9  Snow is starting to stick to home driveways in our development but the streets are still clear of snow. Also the snow to water ratio is running almost exactly 10 to 1. The radar programming is off some as we are into the rainfall zone according to the radar but it is still snowing here.
   5      1330 hrs.   2.2  0.22  32.8  The programming on the radar, the winter mosaic, is really off in this storm as it has our station in rain and we now have a moderate snow falling. The temperature has ben up to 33.0 °F this past hour but is now back to 32.8 °F. A very heavy band of precipitation is now moving NE up from Dinwiddie County and I think it is sleet there but it may be snow when it gets this far north to Glen Allen - Springfield Park area.
   6      1430 hrs.   3.1   0.27  32.5   Just after the 1330 observation the flakes are now larger and falling as large aggregates which generally means temperatures are warming or near freezing aloft. The large flakes coming down made for some beautiful pictures. Large aggregates or fluffy assemblages of many crystals leaves an uneven snow surface and more air spaces in the snow and increases the snow to water ratio. The heavy precipitation band is now approaching Chesterfield County and should be near Henrico County by the end of the next hour.
   7      1530 hrs.    4.0  0.34  32.2  Moderate to heavy snow has been falling most of this past hour. Also the temperature has fallen and the snow to liquid equivalent has increased. The house driveways are now white as well as the street has also become white this past hour.
   8      1630 hrs.   4.4  0.45  31.9   Moderate snow has been falling most of this past hour with a little sleet mixing in with the snow which cut the accumulation some this past hour. I plan the next observation at 1700 to put the observations on the even hour from here on as I was too busy the past hour to do the half hour observation.
   9      1700 hrs.   4.4  0.50   32.2   At 1635 it was a mix of sleet and some snow in the form of graupel showing heavy riming. Then by 1640 it was a little rain and sleet mixed but no snow. The sleet will actually reduce the snow total if it continues but at this time it is still 4.4 inches and we have mostly sleet now with a little rain mixing in with the sleet and no snow !!
  10    1800 hrs.    4.5  0.61  32.5   Mainly rain and sleet this past hour but even with the compacting of the snow by the weight of the sleet we still added 0.1 inches of sleet to the accumulation. The barometer continues to fall rapidly as the low pressure strengthens and the wind is starting to increase some now.
  11    1900 hrs.   4.3  0.70  32.8  There is now more rain than sleet falling and the rain and sleet are causing the snow to settle.
  12    2100hrs.   3.7  0.99  33.3   All rain now and the snow is slush and has settled to 3.7 inches and is also melting. No more observations will be made until the rain turns back to snow. The barometer is faling extremely fast and a very deep low will be made off the coast and the wrap around precipitation of the storm will give Glen Allen more snow tomorrow!!
  13    6th
0700 hrs. 
 0.5  1.99   30.5  Total precipitation almost 2.00 inches and 0.5 inches of snow after the rain stopped. Currently snow grains—(Also called granular snow.) Precipitation is in the form of very small, white opaque particles of ice; the solid equivalent of drizzle is currently occurring.
  14    0900 hrs.   0.8  0.31  30.4  The totals given in this report are since midnight and much of the 0.31 inches is from rainfall after midnight. We have had only 0.3 inches of snow since 0600 and 0.8 inches since the rain stopped. Most of the 0.3 inches of snow is from snow grains but we are starting to get some small aggregate flakes of snow now.
  15    1000 hrs.    1.3  0.34  30.5   Snowfall has become light to moderate this past hour with larger aggregate flakes of snow for much of the period but currently the flakes are small aggregates!
  16    1100 hrs.   1.6  0.37  30.2  Still light snow and the wind has increased this past hour and there is now some blowing snow !!
  17    1200 hrs.    2.4  0.42  29.8   Moderate to almost heavy snow this past hour and the temperature has fallen significantly during the hour.
  18    1300 hrs.   3.9  0.49  29.5   Heavy snow 1.5 inches this past hour and some blowing snow.
  19    1400 hrs.    5.2   0.61  28.9   The temperature continues to fall and the snow continues to fall at a heavy rate 1.3 inches this past hour with visibility of about 0.3 miles. The total snow for today 5.2 inches and yesterday 4.5 inches gives a current total of 9.7 Inches for the two day period. Even with the snow that melted last night with the rain we have 7.8 inches on the ground not counting the snow under the snowboard of the snow camera from the previous storm!!
  20    1500 hrs.   5.9   0.66   29.2   Only 0.7 inches this past hour or a moderate snowfall rate.
  21    1600 hrs.   6.3   0.72  28.5  Only 0.4 inches this past hour or a light snowfall rate but the last heavy band of snow is now coming into our area.
  22    1700 hrs.   6.6  0.75   27.7   Only a light snowfall this past hour and most of the snow should be over by 1800 hours.
  23    1800 hrs.    6.6  0.76  27.0   The storm has ended and I have never seen this much snow on the back end of a storm. Also it is generally windy after a strong storm but is pretty calm this evening. With the snow we got yesterday 4.5 inches and the 6.6 we got today, the storm total is 11.1 inches. We lost 1.7 inches last night in the rain and we had almost 4 inches of all snow on the ground before this storm but we also lost some of this during the rain as well.
  24    2150 hrs.    6.4   0.78   20.9   Note the 6.6 inches of snow has already settled to 6.4 inches. Now Final totals -- Total precipitation yesterday was 1.72 inches and the total today since midnight was 0.78 inches for a storm total of 2.50 inches. The storm total of new snow the past two days was 11.1 inches and we had 3.5 inches of old snow on the ground when the storm started. But the rain last night reduced the 4.5 inches to 3.8 inches and cut the 3.5 on the ground before the storm to about 2.8 thus 12.2 inches should be on the ground after the snow today and after many measurements came up with 12.4 inches on the ground at 1730 just as the storm was ending. The storm lasted for 33 hours.