BECKLEY, W.Va. — Although the brunt of a weekend snowstorm was felt mainly in southwestern North Carolina and portions of Virginia, the southernmost portion of West Virginia was not spared from receiving several inches of heavy snow that blanketed the region, making road travel treacherous, and leading to Monday school closures in several counties.
Along the Virginia-West Virginia border, the snowfall was virtually uninterrupted from early morning through early evening, with more than one foot of accumulation reported in some areas, including Princeton in Mercer County. The heaviest snowfall deposits from the weather system occurred in Saluda, NC, where 18.5 inches of accumulation was measured on Sunday.
In Raleigh County, an accident on Interstate 77 involving two tractor-trailers and at least two cars was attributed to hazardous driving conditions caused by snow-covered roads. The incident disrupted northbound traffic for a few hours on Sunday afternoon.
Elsewhere, West Virginia Division of Highways snowplows and salt trucks were working 12-hour day and night shifts on Interstate 64 for most of the day. By mid-afternoon, there were more than a dozen reports of vehicles sliding off main roads and becoming stuck in ditches in Raleigh and Mercer Counties.
A Winter Storm Warning issued by the National Weather Service was in effect for Mingo, Logan, McDowell, Wyoming, Northwest Raleigh, Southeast Raleigh, and Southeast Fayette Counties through Sunday evening, expiring at midnight.