Here is a 4 p.m. update on the strong storms affecting parts of West Virginia…
Strong storms are rolling through the Mountain State at this hour, and while they’re mostly over the northern portion of the state this afternoon, they’ll be here as we go through the evening.
We’ve managed to avoid the severe weather alerts for now as well, but those are likely coming in the next few hours.
As we can see from the Visible Satellite, we’ve seen some breaks in the overcast this morning and afternoon.
The sunshine is helping to destabilize the atmosphere somewhat this afternoon and has allowed the temperatures to rise a bit, but not quite to the levels that we saw the last few days.
Dewpoints are also not quite as high, meaning that there is not as much moisture in the atmosphere for the storms that do develop to work with.
This version of our Futurecast uses a high-resolution model to forecast the satellite and radar for several days ahead. It started off with too heavy coverage for our area, and going forward, while it is predicting more showers and storms for our area, it could be a little light on the coverage.
Regardless of the level of storm coverage, one thing seems certain. Some of the storms that develop will be strong to severe. Damaging winds are the main threat, but there will be chances for flooding in areas that are underneath the storms. The best chances for severe storms are in the southeastern areas (Pocahontas, Greenbrier, Summers, Monroe, Mercer and Tazewell Counties). The lesser risk areas are in Nicholas, Fayette, Raleigh, Wyoming and McDowell Counties.
The good news is that chances for flooding are smaller than they have been over the past few days, as the moisture for the storms to work with is less than it has been. Underneath the storms, however, flooding issues such as ponding of water on the roads and standing water in the low-lying spots will be a concern.
After the storms are gone, the weather turns much drier and much warmer, with highs in the 90s for several days running!
