CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A major storm system which stretched from the Midwest to the Atlantic Coast brought a mixed bad of precipitation to West Virginia on Wednesday. The National Weather Service had some kind of an advisory posted for all parts of the state.
Western counties, north central West Virginia, and the southwestern parts of the state were under a flood watch and at times flood warnings. The high mountains, eastern slopes, and eastern panhandle as well as the Greenbrier Valley experienced a mix of freezing rain, snow, and sleet. Some of the snow was preceded by ice which made for difficult travel on Wednesday morning.
“It’s a very large storm system,” said Ross Giarratana of the National Weather Service in Charleston. “We’ve seen over an inch to an inch and a half in rain so far with more than another half inch to go.”
The heavy rains prompted a flood watch for counties particularly along the Ohio River where small streams were already beginning to rise early Wednesday morning.
“The ground is very saturated and now we’re throwing in another inch and a half to two plus inches of rain on that,” said Giarratana. “We already have creeks and streams running high before this even and all of this additional rainfall isn’t a good recipe for flooding.”
Giarratana said the bulk of the wet and snowy weather should be out of the state by Thursday morning and the next round of precipitation probably wouldn’t hit the Mountain State until Saturday.