New snow plow tracker released by the City of Richmond

A new snow plow tracking webpage is now available for public use whenever the City of Richmond snow plows are on the move. Now you can track their progress toward your neighborhood, seeing where plows have already been and where they are heading next. The map will display the City's emergency routes and also the "Priority 1 and Priority 2 routes." Those routes are the major roads, like Broad Street, the Midlothian Turnpike and Belvidere Street. Also on the map: fire stations, police precincts and hospitals, as well as City schools and fire hydrants.

City of Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones released this statement Monday, February 6, 2012 upon the public release of the snow plow map: “Even though we’ve had a very mild winter thus far, we want to be thoroughly ready for any possible inclement weather. Ensuring that our snow removal equipment is up to par and that information is readily available and easily accessible will do much to improve our overall performance in the event of a weather occurrence.”

No additional costs were required to produce this "Snow Plow Tracker" because the City of Richmond says it was developed in-house, using GIS software the City already owns.

You can check out the map on your computer or smartphone at this link: https://richssl.ci.richmond.va.us/applications/GIS/snowmap/

The mayor is correct about this being a mild Winter so far! Here's the latest Richmond snowfall update:

Stay with CBS 6, we'll keep you ahead of the storm.
--Meteorologist Carrie Rose

Richmond January 2012 weather summary

As many snow-lovers have noticed (and loathed), January 2012 passed quietly by with only a Trace of snowfall. Although our temperatures generally remained milder most days in January, the average temperature still didn't break into the Top 10 warmest on record for January in Richmond. You can check out that list by clicking here. 2006 holds the number 10 spot with an average monthly temperature of 45.0 degrees, and 1950 in January was the record warmest with an average temperature of a whopping 49.7 degrees! That puts our mild January to shame, really. Here are the complete temperature and precipitation stats for Richmond International Airport this January:

So far this Winter in the Mid-Atlantic, La Nina appears to be impacting our temperature and precipitation trend. Here's what La Nina can do to the U.S. during the Winter Months:


Looks like we are indeed warmer and drier! The jet stream to our north has primarily prevented deep, cold air from plunging into our region and lingering for weeks. The Pacific Northwest also testifies to a cold, wet Winter thus far, with some of the worst winter storms there so far in recent memory. Click here for the summary on their latest winter storm.

Our Winter-to-date snowfall deficit now stands at 6.2" below average. February is typically our snowiest month with about 4.9" of snow on average.

Let me know: do you love a mild Winter, or are you hoping for snow? Join the conversation on Facebook!

Stay with CBS 6, we'll keep you ahead of the storm.
--Meteorologist Carrie Rose

Strong Aftershock Rocks Central Virginia

A magnitude 3.2 aftershock occurred at 6:39 PM this evening 5 miles south of Louisa and was felt across much of central Virginia. This aftershock was one of the strongest since the original quake back in August. I've been getting a lot of questions on my facebook page about these aftershocks, and specifically when we can call them a new earthquake. Technically, all of these aftershocks are earthquakes, but we call them aftershocks because they are smaller earthquakes associated with the larger seismic event (the 5.8 magnitude quake). If an aftershock is stronger than the original earthquake, it will be deemed the main quake, and all subsequent seismic activity will be referred to as foreshocks. Here's hoping tonight's was the last of them, but I doubt it. -Zach