Oak Hill, WV (WOAY-TV): Much to the dismay of snow lovers but in good fortune for warmer weather enthusiasts, above-average temperatures are on the horizon this week. The active Pacific storm track continues and two of those systems, one Tuesday and another Thursday, will bring light rain to southern West Virginia. The rainfall will not be heavy enough to trigger any flooding, even with the snowmelt. Total rainfall between both events will be about one-half inch.
Our StormWatch4 7-day forecast is below:
Even though the weather locally is uneventful today, check out the swirl in the satellite imagery several hundred miles off the East Coast!
Yes, believe it or not, this low pressure has a few signs of potential tropical development, including gale-force winds and thunderstorm development close to its circulation center. However, it only has a short window to become a named storm before it gets absorbed into a cold front and moves over much colder Atlantic waters. It is moving away from the U.S., but moisture spanning northwest of its center is producing snow today in southeast New England, including the greater Boston area, which has picked up 3 inches!
Tropical storms and hurricanes don’t typically develop this early or late in the season due to the cold Atlantic waters, however, the Atlantic is warmer than average and this particular low pressure was able to initially separate from a cold front.
Atlantic hurricanes in January are rare but not unheard of! Hurricane Alex formed over the Bahamas on January 6, 2016, and was the first Atlantic hurricane since 1938. Much like the low pressure hundreds of miles off the East Coast today, Alex swept away from the coast and transitioned to a low pressure. It did not impact the weather here in southern West Virginia.
