CHARLESTON, W.Va. — For two straight days it’s been wintertime in May for some of the state’s higher elevations. Wednesday morning drives across West Virginia’s highlands were taking a journey in January rather than spring drive.
“Our one observer who has been taking measurements since 2001 got 15.9 inches in two days, which is very, highly unusual for May,” said Meteorologist Shannon Hefferan with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh.
The observer was taking readings for the Weather Service at a location near Davis in Tucker County. According to Hefferan, there were plenty of other snow reports, but most were at slightly lower elevations with significantly less snowfall. Once off the ridgetops, it was back to wet ground and almost spring like conditions with the exception of cool temperatures.
“It’s almost like the Rocky Mountains at this time of year. You just go up into the ridges and you’re in the snow, but if you look at the base cameras at some of these resorts there’s nothing at the base, but at the top it’s a complete white out. It’s a very unusual situation,” she said.
Some of the snowfall totals for the two day event were staggering for the month of May and broke old records. Davis, in Tucker County, had a total of 16.2 inches which broke a record which had stood for 100 years. Snowshoe in Pocahontas County had a total of 13 inches of snow for the two day event, breaking the old record which was set in 1975.
As quickly as it arrived, it will be gone according to Hefferan.
“This should be an after thought by the end of this week as we get into 70 degrees in those areas. It will melt in those areas fairly quickly and we’ll go back to spring weather,” she said.
The next concern is the runoff from the melting snow. Normally that much would be a concern for potential flooding downstream. Hefferan said they’ll monitor the situation, but didn’t anticipate any problems because it’s been so dry leading up to the event.
“I think the liquid equivalent to the snow melting is maybe an inch or so. Luckily our rivers, in April have been so low and dry, it can accommodate this,” she said.