WOAY-TV (Oak Hill, WV): The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for all of our area and most of West Virginia until 6am Tuesday. This is in preparation for a significant winter storm coming through the area until Tuesday morning.
ICE DAMAGE: The entire region will see a period of freezing rain in between the initial round of snow Sunday and final round of snow on Monday. The Greenbrier Valley will see the most ice accretion. While Route 19 and I-77 will warm up just enough to melt ice from power lines on Monday between about 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., the Greenbrier Valley will likely stay at or below freezing. Then, the wind will kick in Monday afternoon following the passage of a cold front and temperatures will once again plummet.
Ice accretion on powerlines will not melt and power lines will be susceptible to what’s called “galloping” or swaying in the wind in the Greenbrier Valley. The combination of the subfreezing temperatures and wind will be enough to trigger additional outages even after the storm has ended. Use extreme caution when traveling near power lines during this time and report downed wires to your local utility company, if you safely can do so…