Dry air pushing north in this weekend’s winter storm reduced overall snow totals for the region, and warmer temperatures over the next few days will melt away the snow, according to National Weather Service Wakefield.
Much of Hampton Roads was blanketed in at least a dusting of snow Sunday morning following a “blizzard-like” weather system that hit the East Coast over the weekend. Only an inch or two of snow was reported for most of the Tidewater area down from Wakefield, meteorologist Mike Montefusco told The Virginian-Pilot on Sunday. That includes the lower portion of the peninsula.
But other areas saw larger snow totals, especially the Outer Banks. Montefusco said the area from Franklin down into the northernmost part of northeastern North Carolina saw 3-5 inches, while the Elizabeth City area received 5-10 inches. Some areas of northeastern North Carolina saw up to 12 inches of snow, and a winter weather advisory remains in place for the area.
No additional snow from this weather event is expected, but cold wind chills will continue into the day and night. High winds remain a threat, especially along the immediate coastline, but are expected to diminish over the day. Sunday is expected to be another cold night, but temperatures are expected to warm up this week into the mid-to-upper 30s for most of the region, which will help melt the snow.
Lucy the Goldendoodle plays in the snow with her family, Oakley and Nash Comeau, in the Colonial Place neighborhood of Norfolk on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot)
Wakefield reports a small chance for light snow Tuesday night and Wednesday, but “a lot of uncertainty exists at this time.” Moderate to locally major tidal flooding is expected with the high tide cycle this morning, which could freeze road surfaces. Coastal flood warnings are in effect for Norfolk, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Northampton County and Eastern Currituck County.
“By midweek, we will pretty much have all of this snow behind us, at least for these past couple rounds here,” Montefusco said. “And we will start to gradually warm up as we get into the middle to latter portions of the week.”
Another strong, brief cold front is slated for later in the weekend before warming up again this weekend.
“Still remaining cold for early February, certainly, but we are starting to head towards a brief period where we are not quite as cold as we have been,” Montesfusco.
A Dominion Energy spokesperson said power outages resulting from the storm were fairly minimal, reporting around 16,000 power outages across Virginia since Saturday night. Around 9,700 of those were within the Hampton Roads and northeastern North Carolina area. Roughly 2,300 customers were without power as of 11 a.m. Sunday, with the majority of those in the Outer Banks area.
“We expected the greatest threat to be from 9 p.m. to 11 a.m.,” spokesperson Tim Eberly told The Pilot. “We weathered most of that with fairly minimal outages, but we’re not out of the woods yet.” Outages can still result from high winds and cold weather, he added.
As of 11 a.m. Sunday, the Virginia State Police reported 52 vehicle crashes in the Hampton Roads region since Friday morning — five with injuries and one fatal crash in Greenville that’s being investigated at this time.
Natalie Anderson, 757-732-1133, natalie.anderson@virginiamedia.com
