Church Hill Storm Observation Summary:
* Place – Time: Church Hill, (3/3/2014)
* Temperature: 24-36, During Event
* Winter Weather Watch/Warning/Advisory: Warning
* Closings: Chesterfield Government Closed on 3/3/14 at 10:30 AM, Delayed opening on 3/4/14 for 10:30 AM.
* Road Conditions: All roads covered during event.
* Precipitation Description: Snow, sleet, and rain. Rain and sleet began around 6:30 AM and quickly turned over to all sleet by 7 AM. Snow began to mix in with the sleet by 8 AM. All snow by 9 AM where heavy snow fell for almost 2 hours. Snow tapered off by noon as a large dry slot infiltrated the area. Flurries and light snow continued until 4 PM with no real additional accumulation.
* Total Precipitation: 3.1″. Approximately 0.1″ of sleet. 3.0″ inches of snow was reported at the airport on 3/3/14. Snowfall totals were fairly consistent across central Virginia with totals between 2-5″.
* Comments: Initial forecast for the storm shifted the axis of snow from the Midwest/upper mid-Atlantic to central Virginia on Saturday (3/1). Snow was expected to develop along a backdoor cold front that would create a cold air damning wedge. Afternoon high temperatures reached 72 on Sunday in Richmond, with the temperature plummeting to 11 on March 4th. Sleet, moderate to heavy at times, quickly transitioned to heavy snow. The dry slot quickly stopped the snow by midday, making the higher forecast totals of 7-8″ unattainable. Even higher forecasts of 8-12″ towards Fredericksburg busted due to this dry slot. The sun peaked out briefly before the sun set on 3/3/2014.

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