Power Outage in Beckley, WV

Power lines were downed across both lanes at Parkway Street and Virginia Avenue. The power poles remained standing.

Numerous trees and power lines were blown down in the area of Coal City. A residential trailer observed damage to the structure due to a downed tree.

A tree fell onto a house along Powerline Road, and another onto the post office in Helen, both causing minimal damage. A tree also fell onto powerlines along Williams Street, causing a power outage.

A tree was blown down onto power lines, knocking power out in the area.

The Raleigh County 911 center reported over 100 incidents of wind damage in the county. Trees were blown down on a church and a house. Trees were down throughout Beckley.||Several thousand dwellings in the county lost electric power.

A brief EF2 tornado touched down near the community of Odd. This path is across terrain with an elevation of 2700 to 2800 feet and is just north of Flat Top Mountain. ||The maximum wind gust estimated by the survey was 125 mph.||On Route 33 a well built garage or outbuilding, with a bolted foundation, was completely destroyed. An entire couch from that building was blown across the street and wrapped around a tree. About 10 to 20 houses, including mobile homes, had minor roof and porch damage. A few barns and outbuildings were damaged. At least 2 vehicles were destroyed. A new pickup truck was smashed by a fallen tree. Another car was hit by fallen trees. One parked school bus had its front windshield broken. ||Hundreds of large healthy trees were blown down. Exposed trees were blown down or uprooted. Trees more protected by the terrain had their tops sheared off. Power outages to several hundred people occurred. Roads were closed by the fallen trees. The local telephone company had around 20 poles damaged.

Lightning struck a tree along Garden Terrace. The tree fell onto power lines.

Trees were blown down onto power lines. Electrical outages occurred. In the associated downpour, the city sanitary board measured 1.2 inches of rain in 40 minutes.

Trees or branches fell across roads or onto power lines in scattered locations throughout the county.

Numerous trees and large branches fell onto power lines and roads.

Trees and large branches fell onto power lines.

Trees were knocked down around the small communities of Tams and Helen. Electrical power outages also occurred.

Trees were knocked down around the small communities of Tams and Helen. Electrical power outages also occurred.

Trees fell across power lines.

Freezing rain fell with surface temperatures in the upper 20s. Liquid amounts were in the .3 to .6 inch range. Ice accretion was from a quarter inch to over a half inch. Large branches fell across power lines, causing power outages. Approximately 18,000 customers were without electricity.

Areas along and west of the turnpike, which is Interstate 77, were hit the hardest. Rain amounts were less across eastern portions of the county. For example, the rain total in Beckley was 4.6 inches, but 2.6 inches at the Raleigh County Airport. Streams draining into the Clear Fork of the Big Coal River, plus into the Guyandotte River, saw severe flash flooding. This included such small communities as Leevale, Dorothy, Ameagle, Helen, and Rhodell. Preliminary damage assessment counted over 400 single family homes and mobile homes were destroyed. The lower reaches of Clear Fork at Leevale rose over 15 feet in the vertical, from a base stage near 13 feet to a record crest at 28.47 feet around 1400E. The previous maximum level was 20.8 feet on June 2, 1997. Local residents along the Clear Fork lost power around 0745E with flooding starting by 0900E. Residents described walls of water descending the steep hollows that run off Kayford Mountain into the Clear Fork. Flooding was not as severe along the March Fork of the Big Coal River, apparently sheltered slightly by Coal River Mountain.

Fallen trees caused power outages. Radio stations were knocked off the air.

An enhanced west to east band of wet snow developed across eastern Kentucky into southern West Virginia on the 3rd, ahead of a weak low pressure system. Temperatures were in the low and mid 30s in the valleys to the upper 20s across high terrain. ||Accumulations were very elevation dependent. Accumulations of less than 2 inches were common along many river valleys. For example, Madison and Logan both had around an inch of accumulation. In Wayne County accumulations varied from less than 2 inches in the north to around 5 inches in the south. Most valley roads were just wet or slushy. ||Accumulations of 3 to 5 inches were more common across high terrain. For example, across the southern plateau, 4 inches was reported around Ghent and 5 inches near Oak Hill and Beckley. Meadow Bridge also saw 4 to 5 inches of snow. Travel was slowed across higher terrain during the late afternoon and early evening. This included portions of the the West Virginia Turnpike. ||The wet snow caused power outages. The most customers affected were in Wayne County, where around 3600 customers lost electricity. Boone County had around 1200 structures without electricity. Lincoln County had about 600 residents lose electricity.

A strong low pressure wave moved east during the day, from northern Ohio to along the border of Pennsylvania and New York. Its associated cold front sagged southwest and approached western West Virginia during the afternoon. Dew points were around 70 degrees ahead of the front. Short lines of showers and thunderstorms formed. One larger cluster of storms moved out of eastern Kentucky during the late afternoon. That convection reached the southern coal fields of West Virginia.||The main result was the loss of electricity from trees falling on power lines. The utility company reported about 3,000 customers in Logan County, plus around 1700 in Mingo County, were without electricity.

A low pressure system moved out of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico and across Georgia during the evening of the 23rd, before moving off the coast on the 24th.||Rains of around three quarters of an inch fell over Raleigh County, before ending as some wet snow during the morning of the 24th. During the evening of the 23rd, temperatures were hovering on Flat Top Mountain, around Cool Ridge and Ghent. Ice accumulated on some power lines and elevated metal objects in this area. Very little ice was noted on the warmer ground surfaces. ||The combination of the rain, pockets of freezing rain, a southeast wind gusting near 20 mph across high terrain, and finally a coating of wet snow, caused around 1400 customers to lose electricity in Raleigh County by the morning of the 24th.

A southern stream disturbance in the winds aloft helped initiate snow during the late afternoon hours of Friday, the 10th. Snow accumulations of 1 to 4 inches were common by dawn on Saturday across the mountainous counties. An arctic cold front blew through between 0800E and 1100E on Saturday, the 11th, enhancing the snowfall. Some electrical power outages occurred as winds gusted into the 30 to 40 mph range. Temperatures dropped from the 20s through the teens during that afternoon, with single digits for elevations above 4000 feet. The steady snow turned into wind blown snow showers of varying intensity through the night, before diminishing to flurries on the morning of the 12th. The main accumulation period was from the predawn to late afternoon on the 12th. The drier arctic air limited the snow accumulations overnight Saturday night, despite good crystal growth temperatures in the lingering low level moisture. ||A snow cover of 1 to 3 inches was on the ground prior to this episode. Across Randolph, Webster, and Nicholas Counties new snow accumulations were 4 to 6 inches in a few valleys, but 8 to 10 inches across the high terrain and through the valleys favored by the banded snow showers. The snow depth at Kumbrabow State Forest went from 3 inches prior to the storm to 12 inches. Snow depths of around a foot were also reported around Helvetia and Pickens. The snow depth at Hacker Valley and Mt Nebo increased 7 inches. Even in the Leading Creek Valley, Montrose had a final snow depth around 10 inches. ||In Upshur County, snow accumulations of 4 to 7 inches were observed. For example, Buckhannon measured 5 inches of accumulation, while Rock Cave had 6 inches. In Pocahontas County, the upslope region around Snowshoe and Slatyfork saw 5 to 8, but the majority of the county had less, mostly 1 to 3 inches. Across Barbour, Lewis, Braxton, Fayette, and Raleigh Counties, snow accumulations of 2 to 5 inches occurred.

Rain fell from the 6th into the morning of the 7th. After 1 to 2 inches of rain, the precipitation changed to wet snow during the early afternoon hours of the 7th across the mountainous counties. A 2 to 5 inch snow accumulation was common in about 6 hours. Amounts were highly dependent on elevation. A maximum snow accumulation of 5 to 7 inches occurred near Pickens, Glady, and Harman of Randolph County. The snow quickly diminished after sunset, as the strong mid and upper level dynamics raced northeast. ||Due to the wet nature of the snow, a few power outages did occur.

A cold rain pushed northeast into West Virginia during the Wednesday evening the 25th. A strong mid and upper level disturbance approached by dawn on Thursday the 26th. In response to the dynamics aloft, a weak surface low developed to the south of West Virginia, while the intensity and coverage of the rain increased. The rain changed to wet snow between dawn and late morning. The heaviest snow fell between midday and 1600E. Elkins measured 7 to 8 inches of snow between 1300E and 1900E. As the strong dynamics aloft shifted east, the snow quickly decreased in intensity after dark. Snow accumulations of 5 to 8 inches were common in less than 12 hours. Pickens in Randolph County had the most snow reported with 10 inches.||The heavy wet snow caused some electrical outages. Several thousand customers were without power. The most outages were reported in Upshur, Barbour, Randolph, and Taylor Counties.

A strengthening low pressure system moved up the Ohio River Valley and into southern Ohio. Near and south of the low pressure center, a line of showers and thunderstorms formed as dew points rose into the lower 50s. The precipitation raced east and northeast at 50 to 55 mph, through northeast Kentucky and into southwest West Virginia.||Around 1500 customers lost electric power in Logan County.

Snow and sleet quickly changed to freezing rain around 0800E. About 0.25 to 0.40 of liquid rain fell with temperatures in the 28 to 31 degree range. Ground temperatures were relatively warm, due to the mild weather during the first half of the winter. So ice accumulated only around one quarter of an inch, mostly on elevated objects such as signs and trees. Twigs were broken off some trees. A few power lines did fall around Sophia, resulting in brief power outages.

Snow, sleet, and freezing rain began around sunset on the 8th. The mixture became mainly freezing rain, before ending as snow during the predawn hours on the 9th. A quarter inch of ice from the freezing rain was widespread. Trees fell down along Route 20 in Nicholas County from the ice. Power outages occurred around Ansted of Fayette County. In addition to the ice, 1 to 4 inches of snow fell in Nicholas and Randolph Counties. In Pocahontas County, the precipitation remained mostly snow. The snow began around 1700E to 1800E on the 8th. Snow accumulations of 4 to 6 inches were measured in Pocahontas County, before diminishing during the predawn hours of the 9th.

Snow showers continued from February 28th. Total storm accumulations were 4 to 8 inches for elevations under 2000 feet. Above 2000 feet in elevation, accumulations of 8 to 22 inches were measured. The extreme examples, were Snowshoe and Kumbrabow State Forest. The snow depth at Snowshoe increased from 1 inch prior to the storm, to 23 inches on the 2nd. Kumbrabow State Forest had their snow depth increase from 5 inches to 22 inches. The higher elevations around Richwood had a total storm accumulation of 12 inches. The Beckley airport had a 9 inch accumulation, Valley Head and Rock Cave saw 7 inches, while Elkins, Oak Hill, and Webster Springs measured 6 inches. Some power outages occurred in the Richwood vicinity.

Freezing rain started with temperatures in the 20 to 25 degree range. The greatest ice accumulation was from 1100E to 1400E. Ice accumulation from the freezing rain were a quarter to a half inch. Temperature rose to near 32 degrees that evening. Precipitation ended as light snow. Being a weekend, traffic problems were reduced. Power outages did not occur.

Snow left a 2 to 4 inch cover, before changing to freezing rain. A quarter inch of ice accumulated on trees and power lines. Elevations above 2800 feet saw as much as 6 inches of snow and a half inch of ice.

A southeast wind kept temperatures in the upper 20s with freezing rain accumulating a quarter to a half inch. This was not a major ice storm. However, power outages did occurred in the Spruce vicinity and near Harper Road. Several vehicular accident were reported.