CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The National Weather Service’s Charleston Bureau is keeping an eye on Hurricane Joaquin as it moves in from the Atlantic and takes aim at the eastern seaboard. The storm is expected to strike the U.S. mainland in the New England area this weekend according to Meteorologist Michael Charnick at the Charleston Bureau. However, it could impact West Virginia by reinforcing the system already stalled here.
“The effects we are going to see from the hurricane are going to be felt in the form of rainfall,” Charnick said. “There’s a stalled frontal boundary draped over the Appalachians and the Ohio Valley. This front is going to help pull in some Atlantic moisture and tropical moisture from the system.”
Joaquin should make for a soggy night of high school football as the storm is set to move across the state Friday night and stretch into Saturday morning.
“It’s going to give us heavy rainfall across pretty much the entire state, especially in areas of the southern and eastern counties,” he said. “It’s more of an indirect effect of the Hurricane.”
The system could produce 3 to 5 inches of rain along the Virginia border and into West Virginia’s eastern panhandle. Mixed with heavy rain already received earlier in the week the storm carries the potential for stream flooding in those areas.
“There’s definitely a potential for flooding in southern and eastern areas of West Virginia where they saw a little more rainfall from that system which went through a few days ago,” said Charnick. “With Joaquin and the moisture associated with it those areas are going to see some very heavy rainfall.”
Charnick cautioned anyone living in a flood prone area near a stream to keep a sharp eye on water levels as the system arrived Friday night into Saturday.