SNOWSHOE, W.Va. — The Monday morning weather report from Snowshoe Postmaster John Paine didn’t sound like a typical mid-May day, but weather can be unpredictable in the mountains of Pocahontas County.
“It’s about 29 degrees and it’s a nice little snow storm up here right now,” Paine said.
Paine lives at 4,800 feet, one of the highest elevations for population in West Virginia.
“The weather here can change. If you go a quarter of a mile in any direction, you might end up in the sunshine or in a snowstorm this time of year,” Paine said.
Snow also was reported Monday in other parts of Pocahontas County, along with portions of Randolph County, Pendleton County and other areas as cold weather brought unseasonable frost and freezes.
Paine said mountain living forces residents to always be on the lookout.
“You learn that the weather forecasts are just, kind of, a general idea and you realize you never know what’s going to happen. You could get a little accumulation or maybe not,” he said on Monday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
The National Weather Service had issued Freeze Watches again for Monday night for the following counties: Pleasants, Tyler, Ritchie, Doddridge, Lewis, Harrison, Taylor, Nicholas, Webster, Upshur, Barbour, Pocahontas, Randolph, Greenbrier, Hampshire, Hardy, Grant and Mineral.
Conditions could be cold enough to potentially kill cold-sensitive vegetation.
The forecast is calling for warmer temperatures later this week.