Winter Storm Briefing

January 23, 2026January 23, 2026 HRMessenger Staff Hampton Roads, National Weather Service, Storm, Storm Briefing, Wakefield Va

Prepared by National Weather Service Wakefield, VA

Highlights:

A major winter storm will impact the area this weekend. Impacts from this will likely last into next week and potentially beyond.
A Winter Storm Warning is now in effect for most of the area starting late tomorrow, outside of eastern portions of Northeast North Carolina bordering the Albemarle Sound. A Winter Weather Advisory is now in effect for these areas.
Dangerous and devastating icing, on par with the Christmas Ice storm of 1998, is expected over much of the inland portions of the area. These areas that see heavy ice will experience widespread power outages that could last for days, widespread downed trees and nearly impossible travel.
Bitterly cold air moves into the area in the wake of the storm next week and will only prolong snow and ice impacts. Make final preparations for a major snow/icing event. Major to locally extreme impacts are likely. In addition, aftereffects from the storm are likely to last well into next week due to very cold temperatures. Rush ice storm preparations to completion now.
Marine Weather-A Freezing Spray Advisory tonight/early Saturday. Gale Warning for the Chesapeake Bay, southern coastal waters, and Currituck sound tonight. Additional periods of strong NE winds are likely Sunday into early next week. Freezing spray will also be a concern for much of early next week.

Snow/Sleet Totals:

What: Snow/sleet totals of 5-9” are possible along/north of US-360, with 1-4” south.1-3” of these totals could be mainly sleet, especially in the Piedmont, Central VA, and MD Eastern Shore.

Timing: Precipitation begins as snow early evening Saturday, changing over to sleet and freezing rain from Saturday night into Sunday morning.

Additional Information: Temperatures will be in the 20s Saturday evening/night, which will allow the snow and sleet to accumulate on all surfaces. The combination of sleet on top of snow will result in quickly deteriorating travel conditions, which could become nearly impossible on Sunday. Plan now to avoid travel during the storm.

Worst Case Ice Potential:

Worst case scenario (1 in 10 chances for planning purposes)
While ice totals may not reach 1” there is a likelihood of widespread ice of up to 0.75” from the Tri-Cities south and southwest. A widespread 0.5” of ice is more likely even into central VA.
These are very damaging to devastating ice totals across a significant area.