DANVILLE, Va. – Just as local residents are getting their power back on, another winter storm system is headed to the Southside.

The National Weather Service in Blacksburg has the Dan River Region under a Winter Storm Warning from midnight until Friday morning.

Meteorologist Anita Silverman in Blacksburg says this will be a “significant” ice storm, starting after midnight as mixture of freezing rain, sleet and snow, changing over to all freezing rain. She says the amount of sleet and snow will be less than an inch but cautions that “the amount of ice by the time we get to the beginning of the morning on Friday will be anywhere from one-third to three-quarters of an inch of ice.”

She says we can anticipate downed trees and power lines as well as extended power outages in this storm. And with the nightly lows dipping into the upper teens this weekend, Silverman cautions that “the melting will be slow.”

Icing on roads is also expected and Silverman says motorists should “prepare now to not have to travel anytime from tonight through Friday.”

The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors has declared a state of emergency in anticipation of the latest winter storm.

Photo: Leonard Harville