West Virginians can expect to fight the relentless snowfall that has been dumped on the region at least until this afternoon.
According to the National Weather Service, residents in Charleston can expect to dig out from an estimated 15 inches of snow by late this afternoon and people in parts of Fayette County could be dealing with around 18 inches.
A major winter storm hammered much of West Virginia with several inches of snow beginning early Friday morning. The constant snowfall quickly covered roads and prompted Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to declare a state of emergency.
"Because winter weather conditions are expected to become more severe over the next few days, I have transitioned the State of Preparedness declaration into a State of Emergency to continue deployment of key resources from the West Virginia National Guard, Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, Department of Transportation and other necessary agencies," Tomblin said in a news release. "As these conditions intensify, I continue to encourage you to check on the elderly and your neighbors."
The storm was expected to drop 12 to 18 inches of snow from Charleston to Clarksburg, with as much as 2 or 3 feet of snow in the state's eastern mountains and 6 to 10 inches in the Ohio Valley, said National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Zwier.
"It's a very significant snowfall, even if you get the minimum of a foot," Zwier said at a Friday morning briefing with state emergency officials.
West Virginians needing assistance should contact their local offices of emergency management. Contact information for each county office can be found at:
http://www.dhsem.wv.gov/Important%20Contact%20Numbers/Pages/default.aspx.
For updates on the state's response efforts, including lists of warming stations and shelters, power outages, road closures and weather conditions, visit the state's official Facebook page for Winter Storm Jonas: www.facebook.com/WVJonas.
In Kanawha County, KRT suspended bus service operations at noon due to hazardous road conditions. Saturday service was canceled, according to a post on KRT's Facebook page. KRT will make a determination about Sunday service sometime after 3 p.m. Saturday.
Several streets around the Transit Mall in downtown Charleston were shut down Friday morning after a water main break - one of several reported in the area.
All Friday flights to and from Charleston's Yeager Airport were canceled by noon and were not expected to resume until this afternoon at the earliest, according to airport personnel.
Kanawha County opened an emergency operations center Friday morning to assist the public with emergency needs. The center can be reached by calling 304-746-8828.
C.W. Sigman, Kanawha County's deputy emergency manager, said all things considered, things were not nearly as bad as they could have been Friday.
There were no reports of power outages.
"The snow does not appear to be as wet as we thought it would be," Sigman said. The county was prepared to open shelters, but as of Friday afternoon, none were needed, he said.
"Everyone is safe and sound at home or at a location with utilities," he said. "And for the most part everyone's off the highways. For the most part the roads are pretty deserted."
It helped that forecasts called for the storm well in advance of it, he said.
"Everything is going well," Sigman said. "When people get good information, they make good decisions."
Red Cross and other volunteer groups are setting up warming stations, and as needed, overnight shelters throughout the state.
People needing shelter or other assistance should call 211 for information in their home counties.
National Guard units are positioned around the state, said Jimmy Gianato, state director of homeland security and emergency management. The Guard units were working with power companies, as outages were a major concern, particularly going into Friday night.
Road crews are "continuing to do battle" and are trying to keep at least one lane passable on all primary roads, said state Department of Transportation spokesman Brent Walker.
"I can tell you we're going to stay on these primary roads through the duration of the storm," Walker said, adding that it may be some time before Division of Highways crews can begin treating secondary roads.
"We don't want to raise people's expectations into thinking travel won't be difficult, because it will," Walker said.
Several roads in the Charleston area were closed, including Cantley Drive off Corridor G just after noon.
As of noon on Friday, Kanawha County Metro 911 dispatchers reported 16 vehicle accidents on roads due to weather. Dispatchers said roughly half of the reported accidents involved injuries.
Kanawha County Manager Jennifer Sayre said late Friday that Interstates 64, 77 and 79 were nearly impassable and asked motorists to stay off of the roads.
Lincoln County emergency dispatchers said many roads were a mess and impassable. Most calls they received were from stranded drivers. Drivers were abandoning vehicles all over the county, they said.
Fayette County dispatchers said they had only had calls of a few vehicles stuck in medians, but most drivers were staying off the roads.
Amtrak's eastbound and westbound Cardinal passenger trains running through Charleston were canceled for the duration of the storm.
Charleston Town Center Mall and the Charleston YMCA, along with many area businesses and restaurants were closed because of hazardous weather and a lack of customers.
Most of the eateries on downtown Charleston's Capitol Street were closed, and both vehicular and pedestrian traffic was light.
"We've had three customers come in so far today," said Graziano's Jamie Bradshaw, shortly before noon. The lack of employees showing up for work at nearby state office buildings "killed things for us today," Bradshaw said. "We made an attempt to feed them, and we are feeding the few who venture out."
As Bradshaw spoke, he watched heavy snow accumulate on the sidewalk outside as his fourth customer of the day trudged in.
"Why couldn't this have happened at Christmas?" he wondered.
West Virginia's ski resorts may have minded the snow least of all. Dave Deckema, vice president of marketing at Snowshoe Mountain ski resort said the snowfall bodes well for the rest of the season, which got off to a slow start with December's mild temperatures.
"Given where we were a month ago, we're very happy that winter has returned and returned in full force," he said. Several skiers timed their visits to be at the resort when the storm hit, he said. Others extended trips, anticipating that schools and businesses would stay closed on Monday. And other travelers were having trouble getting to the resort because of snow-covered roads, he said.
The resort's terrain is about 70 percent open and Deckema said they anticipate being 100 percent open by next week.
West Virginia State University canceled classes on campus, and the Putnam County Courthouse was to close at noon. Many other offices, schools, courthouses and other facilities announced their closures on Thursday, in advance of the storm.
The House of Delegates met briefly at 9 a.m. Friday, with 51 of 100 delegates present - just enough to hold an official session, although no action was taken on any bills. The state Senate met at 10 a.m., but didn't have enough members to conduct any business.
The Shirley Schweitzer Winter Hike scheduled for today in Kanawha State Forest has been canceled, along with a Master Naturalist program on winter survival.
The snowfall won't last forever though.
As the weather pattern moves out of West Virginia this afternoon, staff at the National Weather Service said people can expect to enjoy a partly cloudy Sunday with temperatures in the low 30s, before temperatures dip into the low teens overnight into Monday.
Staff writers Phil Kabler, Kate White, Lori Kersey and Laura Haight contributed to this report. Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelhammer@wvgazettemail.com or 304-348-5169.