The morning of Feb. 18, 1979, began in record low temperatures with a forecast for “an inch or two of snow on the way.” At midnight, the thermometer at the Byrd Field Weather Station read 9 degrees, eclipsing the record for the date of 11 degrees, set in 1900. Less than 24 hours later, the “worst snow of the winter” gripped the state of Virginia.
“A blustery, frigid snowstorm—Virginia’s worst this winter—barreled across the state yesterday,” a front page reported on February 19. 1979. Snow accumulations by then had reached up to 15 inches in portions of the state—with snow still falling.
By February 20, Virginians were knee-deep in snow and the slow and tedious recovery from the storm was underway. In 1979, this was the eighth-greatest snowfall since National Weather Service records began to be kept in 1897. Richmond had to use its citywide snow plowing program for the first time in 12 years…