CHARLESTON, W.Va. — It’s highly unusual for Parkersburg to have 9 inches of snow from a storm and Elkins to have only one. But for a brief time on Sunday night into Monday morning that was the case according to the National Weather Service in Charleston.
Winter Storm Izzy rolled into West Virginia in the form of rain and sleet. Temperatures came across the mountains at a high level which pushed the snow westward. Parkersburg wound up with more than 9 inches while Elkins had only three or four. Forecasters said that should change in the coming hours. Elkins and all oft he mountain counties of West Virginia can expect several more inches before the storm moves out tonight.
“The storm tracked very close to the mountains and that got warm air in and as far west as Huntington and Charleston. Southeastern Ohio and western West Virginia was where we were really getting those highest amounts of seven, eight, nine inches,” said Meteorologist Tom Mazza at the Charleston Weather Bureau.
The system turned during the early morning hours and as temperatures dropped the higher elevations started to get the snowfall. They will end up with plenty more before Izzy leaves West Virginia.
“This one was equally distributed, and maybe tilted toward the Ohio Valley which was unusual. But you have two things–the terrain which is static and the track which is dynamic. With the two each storm is its own thing,” Mazza explained.
Central and Northern Mountains of West Virginia can expect several more inches, particularly in the highest elevation before Tuesday morning. According to Mazza temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday will peak above 40 and help some melting before rain arrives Wednesday night.
“Here’s the other side of that story, a cold front is coming through and will drive temperatures way down into the teens come Thursday morning,” said Mazza.
He said that precipitation change and temperature drop could make for difficult driving conditions on Thursday morning. Cold temperatures persist through the weekend.