CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The National Weather Service has placed most of West Virginia under a winter storm warning beginning early Saturday morning with several inches of snow expected.
The warned area stretches from Sistersville in Tyler County south to Beckley in Raleigh County and from Huntington through the Kanawha Valley north to Fairmont and east to Elkins. Preston County is also in the warned area along with the southern coalfields.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Gabe Wawrin says there will be a brief time of rain before it turns to all snow continuing for many areas through Saturday afternoon. He said most everyone will see some snow.
“We’re looking at 3 to potentially 7 to 8 inches of snow for most of the state and then for the higher elevations and the mountains 6 to 10 inches of snow,” Wawrin said Friday on MetroNews “Talkline.”
The cold air and wind will also be significant, Wawrin said.
“We’ll have gusts 15 to 20 miles-per-hour for much of the state and then toward the eastern half of the state into the mountains we’re looking at gusts of up to 30 miles-per-hour,” Wawrin said.
Most areas will be below freezing and into the 20s for Saturday evening. It could feel like 10 to 15 degrees below zero in the eastern mountains.
Wawrin said it will get into the mid-40s Sunday, melting some of the snow in the lowlands. Those areas will see the 60s Monday.
The storm is a reminder that winter is still around, Wawrin said.
“It’s one that’s going to remind ya that we’re not out of the woods yet but it will be gone, especially the lower elevations, pretty quickly,” he said.