CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The forecast was calling for a rainy Friday in much of West Virginia and that could set up parts of the state for possible high water during the weekend.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Joe Merchant said several systems will be putting down a lot of rain in the Mountain State beginning on Thursday night.
“As these systems move through and the water builds up, from one system to the next, it doesn’t have time to drain,” said Merchant of the potential for flooding on Thursday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
“We are more worried and more concerned about the rainfall that’s coming, subsequently, with the next system over the weekend and even into the beginning of next week.”
Flood watches from the National Weather Service were scheduled to take effect on Thursday night and continue into Saturday in the following West Virginia counties:
Wayne, Cabell, Mason, Jackson, Wood, Pleasants, Tyler, Lincoln, Putnam, Kanawha, Roane, Wirt, Calhoun, Ritchie, Doddridge, Mingo, Logan, Boone, Clay, Braxton, Gilmer, Lewis, Harrison, Taylor, Upshur, Barbour.
On Thursday, other parts of the country were seeing snow, ice and dramatic changes in temperature as far south as Texas.
Wednesday’s official high in Dallas was 80 degrees while temperatures were expected to dip into the low 20s there by Thursday night.
Major icing was in the forecast from the Southern Plains to the Ozarks and all the way to the Ohio River Valley, though Merchant cautioned widespread ice would, most likely, not be a problem for many West Virginians.