Trending
ELKINS – Booming thunder woke many area residents in the early morning hours Tuesday as storms passed through the region.
Some areas of Randolph County received close to two inches of rain between midnight and residents’ early morning commutes, according to the National Weather Service in Charleston.
“It seems like on average, we received at least an inch and a quarter (of rain overnight) with some locally higher spots that were close to two inches,” Megan Kiebler, the lead meteorologist for the NWS in Charleston, told The Inter-Mountain Tuesday.
“Those storms that were in the area overnight and into Tuesday morning started to form in the Midwest, and usually they tend to die off with daytime heating around sunset. But then there’s special occasions, like what we are seeing, where those storms are able to prevail into the overnight hours, allowing for those storms to be heard well into the overnight period.”
The NWS has issued a flood watch for Elkins and the surrounding area until Friday at 8 a.m. Kiebler said rain is expected throughout the week, noting that there is really now way to predict where flooding will occur.
“It’s hard to pinpoint specific areas that are going to get those higher amounts of rain and stronger thunderstorms,” Kiebler said. “A lot of times it really depends on where those storms set up out West and how far they can make it into the Central Appalachian area. That is why we do have that extended flood watch going into Friday morning, just because we are going to be seeing each day through the work week these storms passing through the area. And with that we will have that locally heavy rainfall that is going to just exacerbate the already saturated soil.”
Kiebler said there may be some relief from the rain on Saturday afternoon.
“It looks like we will dry out some, probably in the afternoon hours on Saturday,” Kiebler said. “But we are in the peak of summer, so daytime heating could allow for some isolated thunderstorm activity on Saturday, but nothing like we are seeing now and the rest of the work week.”
The NWS is calling for an 80% chance of rain on Wednesday and 70% on Thursday. Thunderstorms are likely on both days, and there is a 60% chance of rain on Friday. Saturday is predicted to be mostly sunny, with a high temperature of 80 degrees.