Schools across the region will be closed on Wednesday, February 19, 2025, as a winter storm moves through the area, bringing snow and hazardous travel conditions.
King George County Schools will be closed and have designated the day as an Asynchronous Learning Day. 12-month employees are expected to report to work on time.
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As Arctic air brings frigid temperatures to the region, multiple school districts have announced schedule adjustments for Thursday, January 23, 2025:
- Stafford County Public Schools: 2-hour delay.
- Spotsylvania County Public Schools: 2-hour delay. Twelve-month and essential employees report on time as safety permits. All other employees report two hours late.
- King George County Schools: 2-hour delay.
- Fredericksburg City Public Schools: 2-hour delay. Employees should report two hours late.
Weather Forecast from the National Weather Service
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Several schools in our region have announced closures and delays for Thursday, January 9, 2025, due to icy road conditions and inclement weather. Here is the latest list of updates:
Prince William County Public Schools
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Several schools in our region have announced closures and delays for Wednesday, January 8, 2025, due to inclement weather and hazardous road conditions. Here is the full list of updates:
Prince William County:
All Prince William County Public Schools will be closed under Code Green for students and teachers.
- 250-day employees and pay grade 13 and above report at 10 a.m.
- The closure will allow VDOT additional time to clear secondary and neighborhood roads to ensure bus safety.
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Prince William County Public Schools
All schools and offices will be closed Code Red on Tuesday. Inclement Weather Employees are the exception and should follow their assigned schedule.
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King George County Public Schools announced that all schools in the division will be closed on Monday, January 6, 2025, in anticipation of inclement weather. The announcement was made via X, formerly known as Twitter, citing concerns for the safety of students and staff.
The message stated:
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The Rappahannock Area Health District and Mary Washington Healthcare are launching the 2025 Community Health Assessment for Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania, Stafford counties, and Fredericksburg, building on their 2022 collaboration. The Community Health Assessment will explore various social drivers of health and will include kickoff meetings across the region to gather community input.
Press Release:
The Rappahannock Area Health District (RAHD) and Mary Washington Healthcare (MWHC) are excited to announce the launch of their joint 2025 Community Health Assessment (CHA) for Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties, and the City of Fredericksburg, as well as MWHC’s surrounding service areas. Building on the success of their 2022 collaboration, which saw participation from more than 70 organizations, including nonprofits, faith-based groups, and government agencies, RAHD and MWHC are embarking together on this important initiative once again.
“Our last Community Health Assessment in 2022 exceeded our expectations. We saw a multitude of organizations come together to collaboratively address the biggest issues affecting health in our community which had not been seen before in our area,” said Xavier Richardson, MWHC Senior Vice President and President of Mary Washington Foundation and Stafford Hospital Foundation. “We look forward to improving upon that experience to engage even more organizations and people in our region in the 2025 assessment.”
The CHA is a critical tool for gaining a comprehensive understanding of our community’s health needs and resources. Expanding the focus beyond traditional healthcare measures, this assessment will explore a broad range of social drivers of health, including housing, income, employment, education, food insecurity, and access to care. This collaborative effort will engage various organizations, groups, and residents to paint a detailed picture of health and health disparities in our community.
“The CHA is about getting a clear picture of the urgent health needs in our community and aligning community resources to better address those needs,” said Dr. Olugbenga Obasanjo, Health Director for RAHD. “A key step is to hear directly from residents about the health needs in our community, and we encourage community members from all walks of life to get involved and provide feedback during this process.”
To launch the CHA, a series of kickoff meetings will be held throughout the region:
- Thursday, Sept. 26, 1 – 2:30 p.m., Porter Library, 2001 Parkway Blvd., Stafford
- Friday, Sept. 27, 12 – 1:30 p.m., Fick Center, 1301 Sam Perry Blvd., Fredericksburg
- Thursday, Oct. 3, 1 – 2:30 p.m., Salem Church Library, 2607 Salem Church Road, Fredericksburg
- Tuesday, Oct. 15, 12 – 1:30 p.m., Caroline Community Services Center, EOC Conference Room, 17202 Richmond Turnpike, Milford
- Thursday, Oct. 17, 12 – 1:30 p.m., King George Citizens Center, 8076 Kings Highway, King George
- Wednesday, Oct. 23, 7 – 8:30 p.m., online meeting
Residents, as well as representatives from local businesses, nonprofits and government organizations, are invited to attend any of the kickoff meetings. Lunch will be provided at all in-person meetings. Registration is requested, and is available at https://tinyurl.com/chakickoff2025
The assessment will incorporate both quantitative data and qualitative feedback to identify key health priorities. The insights gained will inform the development of a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), aimed at enhancing population health outcomes and addressing community inequities. RAHD and MWHC plan to initiate the three-year CHIP process in spring 2025, following the completion of the CHA.
For more information on the previous CHA and CHIP, please visit www.vdh.virginia.gov/rappahannock/fy23-fy25_cha-chip or www.marywashingtonhealthcare.com/foundations/community-benefit-fund. For additional information about the CHA and CHIP processes, please visit the NACCHO website at https://www.naccho.org/programs/public-health-infrastructure/performance-improvement/community-health-assessment
The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Stafford County, including Aquia Harbour and King George, effective until 3:15 p.m. today. This warning comes as a series of storm clusters, currently over Johnstown, PA, and extending across Lake Erie, are expected to intensify as they approach the region.
As of 9:45 a.m., satellite and radar imagery showed several clusters of showers accompanied by occasional lightning moving southeastward.
Meteorologists are monitoring these storm clusters to determine whether they will maintain their strength and become severe as they encounter increasing instability during the day. The potential for severe weather arises as these systems interact with a corridor of weak convergence, noted from western Maryland southeastward towards Fredericksburg. This area is expected to strengthen with additional waves of activity pivoting around an upper-level low to the north.
Despite some limiting factors such as poor mid-level lapse rates and modest atmospheric forcing, scattered convection with a few strong to severe thunderstorms is possible this afternoon and early evening. The primary concern with these storms is the risk of localized damaging wind gusts, with a conditional low-end threat for severe hail if supercell structures develop.
The National Weather Service also notes that following today’s storms, temperatures will likely dip into the mid-60s to lower 70s overnight, with potential for development, particularly in areas that receive rainfall.
The George Washington Regional Commission (GWRC) and Friends of the Rappahannock (FOR) published a joint study on Urban Heat Islands in the Fredericksburg area.
The study encompassed Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania, Stafford counties, and Fredericksburg city.
The study combined citizen science and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to identify areas with a high concentration of impervious surfaces (such as asphalt, concrete, buildings, etc.) and their correlation to higher ambient air temperatures through heat absorption. This effect is known as Urban Heat Islands, and according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Heat Island impacts can affect a community’s environment and quality of life in multiple ways, including increased energy consumption, elevated emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases, compromised human health and comfort, and impaired water quality.
Friends of the Rappahannock conducted the study by coordinating 37 volunteers who obtained 320 air temperature measurements at 20 sample sites within Planning District 16 on July 10th, 2022. These samples were then put into a Random Forest model in ArcGIS Pro (an ESRI product).
The model was used to extrapolate temperatures across the region, ultimately identifying areas as non-heat islands, heat islands, or urban heat islands. The data found that 3.57% of the landmass of Planning District 16 (approximately 32,700 acres) can be classified as an EPA-defined Urban Heat Island.
Geographically, the results were clustered along the Interstate 95 corridor in Fredericksburg and surrounding areas into Stafford and Spotsylvania. North Stafford along Garrisonville Road recorded the highest temperature in the study at 104°F, a 17-degree difference from nearby forestland temperatures.
Other hotspots included the Route 17 corridor in Stafford County; Central Park and Celebrate Virginia South in Fredericksburg; the Spotsylvania Towne Center and Cosner’s Corner in Spotsylvania County; and Dahlgren and the King George Landfill/Birchwood Power complex in King George County.
To learn more about the impacts of Urban Heat Islands, the public is invited to attend an Urban Heat Island Community Listening Session on February 22 at 10 a.m. or March 9 at 6 p.m. at GWRC’s office at 406 Princess Anne Street in Fredericksburg.
Residents will gather information about how they have been impacted by Urban Heat Island and what next steps can be taken to address these impacts.
