Does it snow in West Virginia?

The locals here in Minneapolis like to take their winters seriously. They have a bit of a self congratulatory tone about themselves when discussing how they handle the months of long cold nights and the piles and piles of snow. Many times these same people want to know what I know about winter being that I'm from western Virginia. Once I'm done explaining that western Virginia and West Virginia aren't one in the same (North and South Dakota serve as a great reference point out here) I explain to them that West Virginia is more north than south and at a fairly high elevation meaning that I'm very familiar with snow and the added challenge of driving in it at a 15 degree angle.

I found this story today in the Charleston, WV Gazette. http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201002160493

When more than 200 inches of snow falls on your town so far this winter, where do you put it?

"The Department of Highways is better equipped than it used to be, and it's been doing a pretty good job of keeping up with the snow," said Rich Hopkins of the Pioneer Press publishing company in Terra Alta. "But the banks at the sides of the roads are getting pretty high and keep caving in. That makes the roads not as wide as they should be."

But people in the Preston County town are getting to work and going to the store. "There's not the big panic over snow that you have elsewhere," he said.

Hopkins said the local National Weather Service cooperative observer has already tallied more than 200 inches of snowfall at Terra Alta so far this season. According to the National Weather Service's Charleston Forecast Office, the Preston County community officially had 44 inches on the ground Tuesday morning, including 8 inches of new snow, making it the snowiest town in the state.

"We've been blessed by not having blowing snow," said Hopkins. "That would cause some problems."

Schools in Preston County were closed due to snow on Tuesday, as they were in all other West Virginia counties except Hardy, which operated on a two-hour delay.

According to the National Weather Service, Davis had 38 inches of snow on the ground Tuesday morning, followed by Snowshoe with 36 inches (not counting its ski slopes), and Bayard in Grant County and Kumbrabow State Forest in Randolph, each with 34. Kumbrabow picked up 14 inches of fresh snow during the previous 24 hours.

Snow packs of 20 inches or more were reported at Albright, Frost, Glady, Keyser, Parsons and Richwood.

Joe Stevens, spokesman for the West Virginia Ski Areas Association, said all of the state's snow resorts handled capacity crowds during the Presidents Day weekend.

"Back in the winter of 1995-1996, we had 290 inches of snow at Snowshoe, when I was working there," he said. "But this is the most snow I've seen since then. It's everywhere. Canaan Valley just passed the 200-inch mark for snowfall this season, and there's still a lot of winter left."

With their slopes covered by more than 4 feet of snow, officials at Snowshoe Mountain Resort announced Monday that they would extend this year's season one week, to April 5.

On Tuesday, state Transportation Secretary Paul Mattox told a Senate panel that the Division of Highways has already spent $49 million of the $54 million budgeted for snow and ice removal this season. If more than the remaining $5 million is used to battle snow, money may have to be appropriated from paving and other maintenance funds, he said.

Meteorologist Dave Marsalek of the National Weather Service's Charleston Forecast Office said the current pattern of scattered statewide snow showers can be expected to last at least through Wednesday night and possibly into Thursday.

"The higher mountains stand a better chance of long-term accumulations, while the lowlands won't get all that much -- just the occasional snowstorm that could drop an inch or so," he said. "It looks like things will get quieter late Friday and the first part of Saturday, but then the next system moves in Saturday night."

A winter weather advisory remains in effect through noon today for the Kanawha Valley, where continued light snow and gusting westerly winds are expected, making driving conditions hazardous.