John Tofi (right) leads Alyssa Staats, 8, around on a homemade sled as snow accelerates around them in Charleston on Wednesday afternoon. Staats and her friends were released two hours early from Edgewood Elementary School because of the accumulating flakes and slippery roads.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — On Wednesday, West Virginians got a taste of what’s coming.
A snowstorm covered roads, snarled traffic and closed schools — but conditions are expected to be much worse on Friday, when residents could see more than a foot of snow.
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Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin issued a “state of preparedness” alert, mobilizing the National Guard and other state resources to deal with heavy snow, high winds and other winter weather forecast for later this year.
A winter storm warning issued by the National Weather Service in Charleston said the area could get 12 to 16 inches of heavy, wet snow between Thursday night and Saturday evening. The state’s eastern mountains could get 2 feet of snow.
Tomblin noted that potential weather could leave some neighborhoods without power or other utilities…