The Shadow
ALLEGHANY HIGHLANDS, Va. (VR) – A winter storm that swept across Virginia and parts of West Virginia over the weekend arrived after a week of shifting forecasts and mounting preparations by state officials, utilities, and local agencies.
What began as projections for significant snowfall evolved into a more complex and dangerous mix, with forecasters warning late in the week that sleet and freezing rain would likely dominate in many communities, a shift that ultimately produced treacherous travel, power-outage risks, and, in Covington, a house fire that responders struggled to reach because of icy roads.
Early reports circulated on social media and in regional outlets roughly a week ahead of the storm, suggesting the potential for a major snow event. As meteorologists refined their models, expectations for snowfall totals decreased, and the emphasis moved more toward icing, a scenario that emergency managers consider more perilous because it tends to knock trees and power lines onto roadways and cause widespread power interruptions. The rapid evolution of the outlook mirrors broader scientific findings that warmer average temperatures and more erratic patterns can compress the window of forecast certainty in the mid-latitudes, complicating logistics for storm response and public safety messaging.
By midweek, Virginia’s posture had shifted decisively toward readiness. Gov. Abigail Spanberger declared a state of emergency as the slow-moving system was expected to cross the commonwealth from west to east between Saturday and Monday, prompting staging of the Virginia National Guard and drawing coordinated warnings from health, transportation, and emergency officials.
Appalachian Power said it had thousands of personnel ready to respond, outlining a contingency plan that anticipated tree damage and downed lines while urging residents to assemble outage kits and follow generator safety protocols. Transportation officials highlighted a dual track of plowing, salting, and sanding depending on whether precipitation arrived as snow or ice, emphasizing the need to keep primary routes passable while temperatures fluctuated dangerously around the freezing mark.
Local governments and civic institutions also prepared. Warming centers opened, including at the Clifton Forge Fire Department and Clifton Forge Volunteer Rescue Squad, as well as standby warming shelters in Covington and Iron Gate. If a citizen needs to activate the Covington location at City Hall, contact the ECC, and arrangements will be made to assist anyone in need. To activate the Iron Gate shelter at the Iron Gate Volunteer Fire and Rescue building, send a message to their Facebook page. The Alleghany County Sheriff’s Office is helping residents and giving them rides to warming shelters if needed.
Public schools across the region announced closures for Monday, and the Blue Ridge Parkway warned of park-wide restrictions and closure as a precaution ahead of the storm’s peak impacts. Officials repeatedly urged residents to limit travel and to watch for black ice, especially on bridges and elevated surfaces where refreezing can be sudden and severe.
Additionally, many community offices and businesses were closed on Monday, including the Alleghany County Sheriff’s administrative offices, Lewis Gale Physicians’ Office, Alleghany Highlands Public Schools, Highlands Community Bank, and many other stores, restaurants, and government offices. Additionally, area post offices did not receive mail from Richmond because the truck could not make the journey.
As precipitation intensified late Saturday into Sunday, many areas in the Alleghany Highlands saw the snow transition to sleet and eventually freezing rain, validating the late-week forecast adjustments. While snow totals proved lower than early projections, the icing significantly elevated hazards. Meteorologists and local reporters noted that the most dangerous period could arrive as sleet changed to freezing rain, compounding the risk of outages and complicating road treatment. Temperatures were forecast to plunge into the teens and single digits as the system exited, lengthening recovery times for crews facing re-freeze cycles on secondary streets and neighborhood roads.
In Covington, the storm’s dangers took a stark turn when a fire broke out at an unoccupied home off of Dunbrack Circle. Responders were delayed in reaching the house on Stillwater Drive because icy conditions left the road impassable for fire apparatus, forcing crews to wait for Virginia Department of Transportation assistance to make the route safe. The home was declared a total loss.
The incident underscored the operational challenges that icing poses for emergency services — even when fires are reported promptly, and crews mobilize without delay, winter weather can neutralize emergency vehicles and isolate neighborhoods at critical moments. Access to some areas may be cut off for hours or days at a time, as there have been reports of sleet and snow sliding down ridges and blocking both lanes of travel on roads in both the Potts Creek and Johnsons Creek areas.
There were silver linings. Widespread closures and warnings likely kept many residents off the roads during the storm’s worst phases, easing the burden on first responders and plow crews. The establishment of warming centers provided safety nets for the vulnerable, and utility staging reduced the duration of outages in some affected corridors. Moreover, the dynamic forecast process, while frustrating to some, reflected a prudent approach by meteorologists who balanced public expectations with the realities of evolving model guidance. As one local update noted, it is better to prepare for the high-end scenario and scale down rather than to underprepare for hazards that worsen as the event draws near.
Still, the negatives were clear. Ice amplified risks for responders and residents alike; black ice lingered, and the loss on Stillwater Drive brought home the stakes of delayed access. The experience will likely inform after-action assessments from targeted pre-treatment on known trouble routes, to contingency planning that pairs fire apparatus with road-clearing assets when icing is forecast, as localities refine playbooks for the next storm.
As temperatures drop and roads refreeze in the storm’s wake, officials continue to urge caution. The region’s response suggests that layered preparation, clear public guidance, staged assets, and flexible operations can blunt the worst outcomes, even when forecasts shift, and the line between snow and ice slashes across neighborhoods. The Covington incident, in particular, will stand as a reminder that in an ice storm, minutes can slip away as quickly as traction on a frozen hill.
