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National Weather Service: Tornado Touched Down In Fayette County

Preliminary damage assessments indicate an EF-2 tornado, with wind speeds up to 130 mph, touched down in the Hico area during Tuesday’s severe weather.

The National Weather Service said a tornado touched down Tuesday in Fayette County.

Preliminary damage assessments indicate an EF-2 tornado, with wind speeds up to 130 mph, touched down in the Hico area during Tuesday’s severe weather.

John Peck, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston, explained how the tornado’s strength is calculated.

“Structures, depending on how the structure is built, what the structure is made of, tree damage, things like that,” he said. “We generate an estimated wind speed based off the damage to those indicators.”

No fatalities have been reported statewide from Tuesday’s storms.

The deadliest tornado in state history occurred in Shinnston on June 23, 1944. It killed 103 people and clocked wind speeds of 206 mph. Today, it would be categorized as an EF-5, the strongest possible tornado.

Tornadoes are ranked according to their wind speeds, from EF-0 at 65 mph to EF-5 at 200 mph. Anything EF-2 or above is considered strong.

Peck said West Virginia sees, on average, one tornado a year.

This week marks the 50-year anniversary of the 1974 Super Outbreak of 148 tornadoes in 13 states in the Midwest and South, killing 335 people.

Though West Virginia was not as severely affected as Kentucky or Ohio in April 1974, a few tornadoes did touch down in southern West Virginia.

April Showers Could Bring Floods, Help Ebb Fires

The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a flood watch for the northern two-thirds of the state. The warning extends until Tuesday night with more rainfall and severe weather on the way later in the week. The weather service advises residents to be ready to take action to stay safe. The rainfall could be beneficial, however, for the ongoing fires in the Eastern Panhandle.

John Peck, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, said that residents along waterways anywhere within the flood area need to practice heightened caution and awareness.

“Anybody that’s in those lower lying areas or has interest along creeks, streams and rivers,” Peck said. “Be advised to move any personal property away from those locations.”

The rainfall could be beneficial for the ongoing fires in the Eastern Panhandle.

“The rain will help moisten up the fields,” Peck said. “Which will reduce the potential for wildfire spread. And it should help any wildland firefighters take care of any issues that are lingering out there.”

The wet front is expected to waver north to south throughout the week, rendering it hard to know where some of the heaviest rainfall will likely occur.

“Just important to know that there will be some potential for some heavy rain out there, perhaps some persistent heavy rain for some locations,” Peck said.

Peck said that as the spring progresses and the larger mountain vegetation, like trees, begin leafing the land will be able to absorb more rain. But now, with only smaller vegetation out of winter dormancy, a lot of the rainfall is still running off the mountain.

“This early in the season where you don’t have all the vegetation active, it’s relatively easy to get some overland flooding when you get some heavier rainfall,” Peck said. “But we do have the grasses active, that’ll take care of some of it, but the trees are still just coming into their own.”

Winter Solstice Means More Daylight Ahead

Dec. 21 marks the shortest day and longest night of the year for the Northern Hemisphere.

It is the start of astronomical winter, which lasts from the winter solstice to the vernal equinox around March 20. Astronomical winter is not to be confused with meteorological winter which encompasses December through February, the coldest months of the year. Nor should it be mixed up with solar winter, which is defined as the quarter of the year with the least amount of daylight and lasts from Nov. 6 to Feb. 3 in the Northern Hemisphere.

The exact time and date of the solstice changes slightly each year thanks to the planet’s tilt, as well as its elliptical, imperfect orbit around the Sun. It most often falls on Dec. 21, though sometimes occurs Dec. 22 and rarely can happen as early as Dec. 20 or as late as Dec. 23

The winter solstice occurs at the moment the earth’s tilt away from the sun is at a maximum. According to the National Weather Service in Charleston, the exact moment occurs Thursday night at 10:27 PM when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, located at 23.5° south of the equator.
Daylight will start to increase after the solstice, and West Virginia will have a full extra minute of sun by Dec. 27.

W.Va. Wildfires Steadily Decreasing, Air Still Smoky In Areas Due To Virginia Fire

As Wildfires are slowly decreasing in the state, the air is staying smoky in some areas due to a massive wildfire in Virginia.

There are currently an estimated 10,000 acres of active wildfires in the state — down around 5,000 acres over the last two weeks. Last week’s rain reduced the threat of the wildfires spreading and extinguished thousands of acres of active wildfires. Most of the state had around a half inch of rain.

The southern region, where the majority of the fires are, had the most rain.

However, the air is still smoky in much of central and southern West Virginia. Joe Curtis, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the smoke is coming from the Matts Creek Fire in Virginia. The fire is around 10,106 acres and is 27 percent contained.

“It’s still bringing a lot of smoke to us in West Virginia, here today. And it’s going to be increasing here this evening as well,” Curtis said.

Southeasterly winds will be bringing more smoke into central and northern West Virginia throughout the day. More rain is forecasted for this week and is expected to quell fires throughout both states.

“We’re going to get a pretty good soaking rain, about an inch for most areas, and that should be pretty beneficial and should help out with the fires,” Curtis said.

Warm Sunny Days, Leaf Burns Cause Smokey Skies

An estimated 20 wildfires, mostly in the southern region of the state, have caused the hazy smoky air that many are experiencing this Monday.

John Peck, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said he believes most of the fires are from a combination of weather patterns and human causes.

“We’ve had very dry conditions over the last six days with no measurable rain across most of West Virginia,” Peck said. “That’s allowed the leaves to dry out quite a bit. So, a combination of mostly human causes starts the problem with people burning leaves legally at night,”

In W.Va. it is legal to burn leaves from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. However, if the fires are not distinguished properly, the leaves can reignite when the sun comes up and become larger uncontained fires. This is what Peck believes caused today’s fires and is common in the drier months of the fall.

“The important thing is that if you are burning legally at night, you need to make sure that’s completely out. And make sure it isn’t rekindled during the day,” Peck said.

These local fires are less likely to disturb residents’ airways and allergies than smoke that had traveled from further distances, like the Canadian wildfires this summer, he said.

“With the smoke being so local, the particle size is relatively big. It’s not like the really small stuff that gets down here from the distant wildfires,” Peck said. “So, if (residents) go outside and they are feeling an issue, just masking up will help take care of quite a bit of that”

The National Weather Service is expecting at least a few more days of dry, seasonally-warm weather, with rain expected to begin Thursday or Friday.

“We generally expect these kinds of nuisance fires to keep going for the next few days with relatively smoky air,” Peck Said.

Winds moving in through the week will help keep the smoke from accumulating and becoming denser throughout the week. As new weather fronts move in they will help mix up the smoke, Peck said.

“It’s just going to be the fires upstream of you. The winds, the smokes pooling down wind and it’s spilling into your face, basically. But it’s not going to accumulate. It’s just going to be stuff that’s being produced at the current time,” Peck said.

The Kanawha County Commission has requested the Division of Forest Management to issue a burn ban.

“We have grave concerns that additional forest fires will occur,” said the request signed by Commissioners Ben Salango, Kent Carber, and Lance Wheeler. “State Code prohibits outdoor burning from Oct. 1 through December 31 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. However, we believe an additional ban should be enforced.”

Agencies Brace For Flooding With More Rain On The Way

Many of the areas that saw flooding Monday are on track for more rain Tuesday and into the night.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

Many of the areas that saw flooding Monday are on track for more rain Tuesday and into the night.

Jennifer Berryman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said light rain is expected thoughout the day in central and southern West Virginia with heavier rain possible into the evening.

The Division of Emergency Management, National Guard, Metro 911, Emergency Operations Center and the National Weather Service are all standing by waiting to see what storms develop and where.

There is a 60-80 percent chance of rain over central, eastern and southern West Virginia. Berryman said that storms are tracking to cross over Charleston up to Clarksburg, and other cells to move over Fayette County down to McDowell County.

She said that the weather service still doesn’t know how much precipitation these fronts will deliver to those areas.

Kanawha County Commissioner Lance Wheeler was at the Emergency Operations Center at Kanawha County Metro 911 Monday and said that those agencies are fully staffed and ready to assist if another heavy rain does cause more flooding.

“The big question is — is the storm front going to move though or is it going to hover over the area and drop a lot of rain?” said Wheeler.

He said after four days of rain the soil is completely saturated.

“The ground can only take so much water,” Wheeler said. “When this rain comes a third time, it’s going to roll right off the hill and it’s going to fill in these valleys and this river, and it’s going to bring that water level even higher. So, what we could see is maybe less rain coming in, but more potential for hazard.”

Wheeler advised residents not to underestimate the potential danger and to have a plan for Tuesday evening if there are more floods.

“So, we told people, take this seriously, this isn’t like your casual floods that you’ve seen in the past. This is the most rain many of these areas have seen in a lifetime,” Wheeler said.

He encouraged residents to listen for flood alert sirens and stay vigilant of any flooding even if it is not yet at the door. He cautioned the water can rise quickly. He also advised to not cross any streams and instead call for a water rescue.

Wheeler said before they can start cleaning up and assessing damage, they are putting resources towards preparedness for another possible heavy rainfall.

West Virginia’s National Guard’s Edwin “Bo” Wriston said they are reaching out to see if they are needed for immediate help but are not doing damage assessments at this time.

Wriston said they are waiting to see what the storm front brings and if the governor calls them back into action.