OAK HILL, WV (WOAY) – The weather today has been fairly nice. While there have been a few additional clouds compared to the past couple of days, the temperatures have been pretty close to normal. Tonight, the clouds will keep the temperatures up a bit, and we’ll drop into the lower 50s.
We start off the weekend with mostly cloudy skies and dry weather. But the dry weather part won’t last long as we begin to feel the effects of what was Major Hurricane Isaias. Even though it will have been downgraded by the time it reaches us, it will still produce heavy rain and strong wind gusts at times. This will especially be true of higher elevation areas along and to the northwest of the spine of the Appalachians. There, the winds will gust to 50 mph at times, with isolated gusts to 60 mph. Sustained winds will range from 25 to 35 mph. The strongest winds will occur later in the day. The winds could cause issues with power lines and branches. With the strong winds that are expected, the National Weather Service has issued a Wind Advisory from 5 p.m. Saturday until 11 a.m. Sunday for the areas mentioned above.
As for the rain, we’re expecting that to arrive in the southern coalfields around Noon, and it will spread north from there. Once it arrives, the rain will continue throughout the rest of the day.
Lows tomorrow night will be relatively mild again, generally in the mid-50s.
The second half of the weekend will be similar to the first as the remnants of Isaias will continue to influence our weather. Winds will be gusty early, with the same areas seeing the highest winds. As the day goes on and the low-pressure center moves away and fades, the winds will taper off. Unlike the winds, the chance for rain will stay with us all day. Luckily, the rain should be off and on as it comes in bands, not dissimilar to what would happen in a mature hurricane.
Overall, rain totals will be between 1-2″ in most areas, a good amount, but a low enough amount where we should be able to avoid major flooding. Unlike the winds, the heaviest rain will be in the Greenbrier Valley. There, along with parts of the southern coalfields, the Weather Prediction Center has issued a 5-15% chance of flooding over the next couple of days.
With the cloud cover, both weekend days will see highs in the mid-60s, not exactly tropical weather! The weekend ends with more rain chances and lows in the mid-50s.
Click below for a video version of the forecast…
