Winter temperatures reached a substantial low this past weekend, though thankfully they were not paired with substantial precipitation that would have led to another major winter storm. It has been a busy winter storm season, so it certainly made sense to be on the alert.

We would like to express our gratitude that the most recent storm, Winter Storm Gia, which came the weekend before last, did not turn out to be as big as its predecessor, Winter Storm Diego, from December.

As we reported last week, a snowfall analysis from the National Weather Service in Wakefield estimated that the Lunenburg area received between 1-2 inches of snow as a result of Gia.

The storm still affected a significant number of people in the county in terms of power loss, though. The number of households without power in Lunenburg reached more than 1,000 over that weekend between Southside Electric Cooperative (SEC) and Dominion Energy.

We begin putting The Dispatch together Tuesday morning, and as of 7 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 15, SEC estimated there were approximately 1,200 customers in the region still without power. The company was working with mutual aid crews to restore that power.

The same morning, the Virginia Department of Transportation reported road conditions in Lunenburg as clear, with the exception of Route 1002, Eighth Street, which was closed due to a downed tree.

Sometimes in smaller scale weather events like Gia, it can be easy for those unaffected to feel like nothing happened. Obviously, the storm did impact the area, though, and we would like to also express our gratitude for the crews at the state and local levels that worked faithfully to restore power and to clear the roads.

Victoria Fire & Rescue Chief Rodney Newton said that crews responded to a few calls over that weekend for trees on power lines and one vehicle accident that involved a vehicle and a tree.

We offer thanks to Newton and the crews that help serve the county rain, snow, sleet or shine.