CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The National Weather Service is closely watching a pending storm system and casting a worried eye toward Pocahontas County.
The snowpack in the high mountains is loaded with moisture and meteorologists at the Charleston Weather Bureau worry the right combination of factors could cause a rapid release. A flood watch has been issued for Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday evening with a watchful eye toward the Pocahontas County seat of Marlinton.
“They didn’t release much in the way of water from the rain last week,” said Meteorologist Nick Webb with the Weather Service. “Some of the snow cores from our cooperators indicate anywhere from two to three inches of water in the snowpack up there in Pocahontas County.”
The weather service cannot yet say if the system set to arrive Monday night will line up to cause possible flooding in the Greenbrier River Valley.
“That will depend on a number of factors not only temperature, but wind as well as dew point,” Webb said. “We’re looking at rain moving in late tonight and into tomorrow along a warm front. Where that axis sets up we’ll see who has the highest flood potential.”
Webb said there’s a hope the main axis of the rain will stay north and west of Pocahontas County as it moves through West Virginia and lessen the potential for high water in the Greenbrier River Valley. However, if it doesn’t, there could be significant flooding.
“It’s impossible to tell how high it would get because of the variables as far as snowmelt release as well as rainfall on top of that determines how high the Greenbrier would rise,” he said. “However, if you had the heavier rain axis set up over the Greenbrier River Valley that would really increase the flood potential.”
Webb said they should know more as the storm moves into West Virginia Monday night and Tuesday morning.