Snowfall that surpassed predictions surprised local residents when it started coming down in Suffolk around 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Although a Tuesday forecast called for little to no accumulation, about two inches of accumulation had built up in some areas by 7 p.m. Wednesday. The snowfall was heavy at times, and a number of minor traffic accidents throughout the city slowed the evening commute even further.

“We’ve seen some moderate to heavy snowfall come through the area,” meteorologist Dan Proch of the National Weather Service in Wakefield said. “It started off light but picked up pretty quickly.”

But meteorologists were expecting it to change to rain later in the evening and wash away the heavy, wet snow.

“It’s really going to put a damper on that snowfall and help melt it,” Proch said.

Feared, widespread power outages did not materialize in Hampton Roads. At 7:15 p.m., no Dominion Virginia Power customers in Suffolk were out of power, and only small outages were reported in Norfolk and Virginia Beach.

Rain is expected most of Thursday, along with another brief period of snow Thursday night as the storm system pushes off the coast.

“It should dry out after that,” Proch said.

Several events were canceled Thursday night, including sports games, an information session for the new biomedical sciences program at Lakeland High School and a Nansemond River Preservation Alliance TMDL Implementation Plan public session. All the events will be rescheduled, the organizations said.