Richmond prepares for anticipated weekend storm

Jan 23, 2026 - 00:25

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Richmond prepares for anticipated weekend storm

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Richmond officials said they are taking extensive steps to prepare for this weekend's snow and ice storm.

An arctic front is expected to bring wintry weather to Central Virginia starting on Saturday, Jan. 24. Per our StormTracker8 team, this system will start as snow, then become sleet and freezing rain by Sunday, Jan. 25. This freezing rain will quickly freeze into ice, creating dangerous conditions and a risk of widespread power outages.

During a meeting on Thursday, Jan. 22, Mayor Danny Avula said city departments have been closely monitoring weather forecasts and coordinating preparations across shelters, utilities and roadways.

"We are very cognizant of everybody’s state of mind, given what we all lived through last January," Avula said, referring to the January 2025 water crisis. "And so we’ve done significant preparation."

Avula emphasized that residents should sign up for Richmond Ready Alerts, which provide emergency updates by text and phone. You can sign up by texting 'RVAREADY' to 804-888-777.

The city's Department of Public Works (DPW) has already begun treating roads. DPW director Bobby Vincent said crews started outfitting equipment earlier this week and began pre-treating major roads, bridges, and hills on Thursday.

"Our department started outfitting our equipment earlier this week, and we began pre-treating yesterday with regards to our major arterials as well as bridges and hills," Vincent said.

Pre-treatment efforts are expected to continue through the week, with crews expanding work into smaller roads and neighborhoods as conditions allow.

Preparations are also underway at the city’s water treatment plant. Department of Public Utilities (DPU) director Scott Morris said staff have spent the past year strengthening resiliency plans and conducting drills ahead of severe weather.

"We spent the last year kind of building our resiliency plan," Morris said. "We are as prepared as we possibly could be for another wet weather event and I have full confidence that we’ll make it through this."

Morris and Avula said the water treatment plant has access to both power feeds, as well as a backup generator, should power outages occur.

City leaders are also planning for the unhoused population. Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Human Services Amy Popovich said the city will open an emergency shelter staffed by trained human services personnel.

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"We will be opening our emergency shelter," Popovich said. "This emergency shelter is staffed by trained human service staff, who receive training throughout the year."

The location of the emergency shelter will be announced later and will operate on a first-come, first-served basis. Other inclement weather shelters are already open and their hours will be extended through Tuesday.

Information about emergency shelters can be found here.

Information on the inclement weather shelter, which is located at 1900 Chamberlayne Ave., can be found here. It is operating on an updated schedule, as follows: