CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Much of the Mountain State is looking at a thorough soaking through Wednesday evening as what is left of Tropical Storm Fred rolls through the state from the south.
Forecasters at the National Weather Service in Charleston predict 2 to 4 inches of rain for the mountain counties of West Virginia and the potential for one to two inches of rain in western counties closer to the Ohio River. Most of the state is under a flash flood watch from 8 p.m. Tuesday through Wednesday morning.
Meteorologist Megan Kiebler with the Charleston Weather Bureau indicated the state could use the rain–although not all at once.
“Especially in our northeast mountains around Pocahontas County. That’s been our driest area for a week or two. Over here in the western counties, we were probably just under our normal for the year, but with Fred coming up that should return us to our normal levels,” she explained.
The rain hitting the state Tuesday morning was the northern edge of the storm system which will be moving north for the next 24 hours after making landfall in the Florida panhandle Monday. The bulk of Fred’s precipitation is expected to arrive late Tuesday night and into Wednesday. By Wednesday evening, Kiebler predicted the storm will have moved into Pennsylvania and the northeastern states.
“It will be moving quickly. We’ll just be watching for the heavy downpours associated with this system especially as the center of circulation moves overhead. Going into overnight tonight is when we expect the heaviest rainfall to occur,” she explained.
Fred is being followed in the Gulf by another tropical storm named Grace, but projections are the storm will move across the Gulf and into Mexico with no impact on West Virginia.