More than half a foot of snow one day and sunny skies with temperatures nearing 60 degrees just 48 hours later.
A wide range of weather hit Central Virginia last week.
“The only thing I can say is that our weather is rarely average,” said Andrew Freiden, a University of Virginia alumnus and veteran meteorologist for Richmond NBC affiliate 12 On Your Side. “We can have some crazy ups and downs, and that’s what’s actually normal. It would be weird if we went through the seasons slowly and gradually.”
With more snow forecast this week – one to two inches are expected for Charlottesville while Richmond could receive more than six inches – UVA Today caught up with Freiden to get a better grip on what’s been an eventful winter in our region.
Freiden, a multiple-time regional Emmy winner, graduated from UVA in 1995 with an environmental sciences degree.
Q. We’ve already been hit with several snowstorms. What’s different about this winter compared to others?
A. This year is actually not too different from normal. Our last two winters were duds for snow fans. Much warmer than normal. So, getting snow is kind of a shock to many of us as we got lulled into thinking we don’t get snow in Virginia.
UVA alumnus Andrew Frieden, a veteran broadcast meteorologist, has served the Richmond area for more than two decades. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)
Q. Has this winter been harder to forecast than others?
A. I’m not looking for sympathy, but it seems like it’s always hard. Very rarely have we been 24 hours ahead of a winter storm and I’m kicking up my feet on the desk, thinking to myself, “NAILED IT.”
There are always things that can go wrong. For instance, in last week’s storm, we changed from snow to sleet about three hours earlier than we thought here in Richmond. That messed up our snow forecast.
In the forecast I’m working on now, we’re really confident it’s going to be a cold system that will make dry, fluffy snow (no sleet or freezing rain) but there’s going to be a sharp cutoff somewhere near Richmond where snow totals go from six-plus inches to very little over the course of a few miles.
