Power Outage in Bluefield, WV

Wind gusts downed trees countywide, especially in the Athens area. Additionally, wind gusts took down at least one power pole. Periodic wind gusts over 40 mph continued into the early evening hours. Damage values are estimated.

One powerline was downed by thunderstorm winds along Coal Heritage Road.

Winds gusted to 58 mph at the Mercer County Airport. Trees were blown down due to these winds, and there were power outages not associated with lightning. Damage values are estimated.

A member of the Mercer County Sheriff's Department observed ice accumulations from freezing rain ranging of 0.25 inches in thickness across portions of Mercer County, including around the community of Princeton. Sleet and snowfall accumulations of 2 inches were also observed within the county as well. Key impacts: power outages; hazardous travel conditions; tree damage; schools closed.

Ice accretion totals of near 0.25 inches were reported in Athens and near Bluefield. At least one tree was brought down by the ice in Bluefield, and over 5600 people in Mercer County were without power.

Snowfall totals across the county include 10.0 inches two miles southwest of Lerona, 11.5 inches one mile south of Athens, 12.0 inches two miles west of Princeton, at Bluefield, at Athens, and two miles north-northeast of Montcalm, 12.5 inches two miles west-southwest of Princeton, 13.0 inches one mile west of Princeton and two miles east of Princeton, 14.0 inches at Princeton, 15.5 inches one mile north of Bluefield, and 17.0 inches two miles east-southeast of Bluefield. Approximately 3700 electric customers were without power.

Winds downed six trees in the county in or near the communities of Matoka, Princeton, Bluewell, Green Valley, and New Hope. The wind also downed one power line. Damage values are estimated.

Thunderstorm winds downed dozens of trees and power lines across Mercer County. In addition, shingles were reportedly blown off of a few roofs. The roof of a building located along Route 52 in the community of Brush Fork was blown off by these strong winds. The Bluefield ASOS located at the Mercer County Airport measured a wind gust of 52 knots.

Thunderstorm winds downed dozens of trees and power lines across Mercer County. In addition, shingles were reportedly blown off of a few roofs. The roof of a building located along Route 52 in the community of Brush Fork was blown off by these strong winds. The Bluefield ASOS located at the Mercer County Airport measured a wind gust of 52 knots.

Strong southeasterly winds resulted in isolated reports of downed trees, as well as losses of power and telecommunications, across Mercer County. At one point during the morning, at least 1,530 customers were reported to be without power. One tree blown down was an 150-year old oak located on Bland Road in the town of Bluefield, which was well-known to local residents.

Over a dozen trees and at least three power lines were brought down by high winds. Bluefield ASOS (KBLF) had a peak wind gust of 49 mph.

Appalachian Electric Power Company reported that over 7000 residents of northern Mercer county suffered extended power outages, in some cases lasting up to three to four days, as a result of 1/4 to 1/2 inch ice accumulations on trees and power lines. Ice accumulations up to 1/4 inch were reported from Athens and Flat Top. The SkyWarn spotter in Athens also reported one inch of sleet as well. Dozens of trees were down across northern Mercer county and over two dozen roads were at least temporarily closed as a result of the downed trees, especially across the northern half of the county.

Winds blew two power lines down at the intersection of College and Thorn Street in Bluefield. Damage values are estimated.

Trees and powerlines were reported down on South Street in Bluefield.

Multiple trees and power lines were brought down in the Bluefield area.

Trees and power lines were brought down by high winds in the Montcalm and Bluewell areas.

Six power lines were blown down by high winds throughout the county.

A large pine tree was brought down on some power lines in Bluefield and several other trees were also reported down. Bluefield ASOS measured a 51 mph wind gust at 2:52 AM.

A 50 foot tall, three foot diameter pine tree was blown down by an estimated wind gust of 60 to 70 mph. Power outages were also reported in half of Bluefield. The damaging winds lasted until 723 pm.

There was 0.25 inch of ice in and near Bluefield. Also, there were intermittent power outages in rural areas of the county.

Trees were downed county wide due to the high winds. In Bluefield, a tree fell on a house on Mountain View Avenue. Also in Bluefield, a large marquis sign for a supermarket was blown down. Trees also fell onto powerlines resulting in power outages to 130 power customers.

High winds occurred after the passage of a cold front. These winds helped to cause a great abundance of trees and power lines to be blown or taken down across the region.

A complex low pressure system brought deep moisture from the Gulf of Mexico as it moved across the central Appalachians, overriding a shallow layer of sub-freezing temperatures within high pressure established across the mountains of southeast West Virginia. This resulted in a widespread mixture of freezing rain, sleet and snow across the large portions of West Virginia. Freezing rain accumulations were higher more to the south across Mercer County, with a thicker layer of cold air to the north resulting in mixture of sleet and snow. Mainly snow was observed along and north of Interstate 64 in Greenbrier County. The icing from this freezing rain weighed down trees and tree limbs, causing some to snap. Some power outages were reported. The widespread winter storm conditions resulted in numerous travel delays, with schools across the region closed.

Low pressure tracked northeast along the east coast of the U.S. Moisture from this system fell as a wintry mix across parts of southeast West Virginia. Snowfall from the system totaled up to two inches in places. Ice accretion totaled up to one-quarter inch in some locations. Sleet accumulated up to almost three inches in spots. Snow, freezing rain, and sleet impacted the region with the result being a slushy and slick mix of the above on roads and other surfaces. Key Impacts: Slick and slushy roads and sidewalks, downed trees and power lines.

Thunderstorms developed ahead of an approaching cold front across the ridge lines of southeast West Virginia during the afternoon of June 24th. A few storm intensified to severe levels and produced sporadic wind damage, which downed trees as well as a power pole.

A couple mesoscale convective systems within a hot and humid air mass brought lines of severe thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening hours. The storms produced hail up to the size of quarters and produced damaging winds that blew down numerous trees and power lines. The trees also damaged several structures. In addition, the winds destroyed bleachers, damaged a chain link fence, and blew down a light pole at a little league baseball field in Bellepoint Park.

Southwest winds on the east side of an advancing area of low pressure brought warm and moist air across the region the night of November 14th into the morning of November 15th. This warm and moist air resulted in rain falling across the area, but falling through a shallow layer of below freezing air just above and at ground level, and onto surfaces also below freezing. The result was a freezing rain event that deposited up to one-quarter of an inch of ice on trees, power lines, and roads. At least 12,000 customers were out of power because of the ice.

A cold front crossed the region on the evening of March 1st. Behind the front very strong winds a few thousand feet off the surface were brought downward due to good mixing within the lower levels. The greater than 58 mph winds helped produce damage that included dozens of trees down and a few power lines down.

Lightning struck a power line, breaking it in half. Small limbs also were knocked off a tree.

A cold front moved through the area the afternoon of April 2nd, 2016. Wind gusts 58 MPH and greater brought down trees and power lines.

Lines of showers and thunderstorms developed in advance of an approaching cold front. Some of these storms contained damaging winds that downed trees, and one wind gust snapped a power pole.

A very high amplitude upper atmospheric pattern featured equally deep troughs in the western and eastern U.S. Within the eastern U.S. trough, was a vigorous Alberta clipper that intensified immensely as it plunged into the southeast states into the base of the upper trough. Meanwhile...a large nearly 1040mb Canadian High was plunging into the central and eastern U.S. on the back side of the developing storm system in the southeast states. The combination of these features brought an early season snowfall principally to the Appalachian mountains of eastern Tennessee, far southwest Virginia, and northwest North Carolina. Light snow also fell in the mountains of eastern West Virginia, but the storm system tracked too far south for any significant amounts in that region. Snowfall amounts were generally around 1 inch or less, except 1 to 3 inch range across this region...with some higher totals of 4 to 6 inches in the higher elevations of northwest North Carolina. Strong and gusty northwest winds accompanied the snow in these areas causing scattered power outages. Because of warm temperatures within the preceding days and the early season time of the event, roads and travel conditions were not significantly impacted.||Here are some of the snow reports from southeast West Virginia from the afternoon of November 1, 2014. These denote the high end of the event in these counties. Note, the event actually began during the afternoon of October 31st.||Greenbrier (McRoss) - 1.1 inch,|Mercer (Bluefield) - 3.0 inches.

A strong Canadian cold front combined with a powerful mid-U.S. upper-level trough to bring a period of light snow to the mountains of eastern West Virginia on the 10th continuing into the early morning hours of the 11th. While snow amounts were generally in the 1 to 2 inch range across most of the southeast West Virginia counties within the Blacksburg County Warning Area (CWA), upslope enhanced snow showers in western Greenbrier county brought snowfall totals there into the three to four inch range with a maximum of six inches being recorded in the far northwest part of the county at Quinwood. Monroe county, however, did not report any measurable snowfall.||Here are some of the snowfall totals received from the southeast West Virginia counties within the Blacksburg CWA.||Greenbrier (Quinwood) - 6.0 inches,| (McRoss) - 4.0 inches,| (Renick) - 2.8 inches,||Mercer (Princeton) - 1.5 inch,| (Bluefield) - trace,||Summer (Meadow Creek) - 2.0 inches,| (Hix) - 2.0 inches.

A classic eastern U.S. cold air wedge set up began to evolve from December 7th into December 8th as a large 1038mb Canadian surface high, anchored across eastern Pennsylvania and eastern New York wedged southwestward along the east side of the Appalachians down through Virginia into Georgia. Meanwhile, a cold front was stalled along the southeast U.S. coast. In the upper-levels of the atmosphere a deep western U.S. trough was slowly shifting eastward into the central U.S. Surface low pressure was tracking along the stalled southeast U.S. frontal boundary. This feature combined with the slowly eastward tracking upper-level trough provided for the development of widespread overrunning precipitation into the cold air mass where temperatures hovered in the upper 20s and lower 30s. Given that a layer of warmer air with temperatures above freezing was present just 3000 to 4000 feet above the surface, precipitation fell largely in the cold air at the surface as a wintry mix of freezing rain and sleet, with some snow in the northern portions and higher elevations of the Blacksburg County Warning Area (CWA). This was a near perfect cold air damming/wedge pattern for the mid-Atlantic region and as such proved to be so in terms of winter weather. Freezing rain with ice accumulations ranging from 1/4 to 1/2 inch was widespread across southeastern West Virginia. Significant ice accumulations of 1/4 to 1/2 inch were reported from many areas of the four counties in southeast West Virginia within the Blacksburg CWA. Warm temperatures in the days leading up to this event prevented widespread travel problems. However, ice accumulations on trees and power lines were significant. Mercer county bore the brunt of the ice accumulations with nearly 7000 residents in Mercer county left without power during the height of the ice storm. The weight of the ice toppled dozens of trees across northern Mercer county and at one point there were more than two dozen secondary roads closed from downed trees. Outages in northern Mercer county lasted two to three days at least. Monroe county fared the best with less than 100 residents suffering from power outages.||Here are some of the snow, sleet, and freezing rain accumulations reported across southeast West Virginia as of the morning of December 9, 2013.||Greenbrier (3N Lewisburg) - 0.50 inch sleet, 0.20 inch ice,| (Clintonville) - 0.25 inch ice,| (Smoot) - 0.25 inch,|Mercer (Athens) - 1.0 inch of sleet, 0.25 to 0.50 inch ice,| (Flat Top) - 0.25 to 0.50 inch ice,|Monroe (4WNW Union) - 0.50 inch sleet, 0.25 inch ice,| (2E Wolfcreek) - 0.25 inch ice,| (1 SSE Alderson) - 0.25 inch ice,|Summers (Pipestem) - 0.50 inch sleet, 0.38 inch ice,| (Talcott) - 0.25 inch ice.

A series of deep upper low pressure systems and associated intense surface lows tracked across the region during the last two weeks of December bringing winter weather and strong to high winds to southwest Virginia, southeast West Virginia, the adjacent Allegheny Highlands of Virginia, and northwest North Carolina. Several surface lows tracked from the week before Christmas through the final days of the year in a similar path from the Tennessee Valley across southwest Virginia and/or southeast West Virginia, then toward the mid-Atlantic region. As the surface low pressure areas intensified off the mid-Atlantic coast, very strong, gusty northwest winds developed across the region, especially southwest Virginia and northwest North Carolina. Sustained winds of 25 to 35 mph with gusts in excess of 50 mph were common from the evening of the 26th through the early morning hours of the 27th. The strong winds blew down a number of trees, many onto power lines and some onto roads, resulting in scattered power outages throughout the region. Here are some sample wind gusts measured from various weather stations across southeast West Virginia and the date/time that they occurred. Note, counties not listed either do not have reporting stations or had wind gusts reported or measured of less than 35 mph.||Greenbrier County (2NW Alvon): 12/27/12, 842 am EST, 59 mph,|Mercer County (BLF ASOS): 12/27/12, 449 am EST, 49 mph.

A derecho of historic proportion rolled through the region and caused widespread, significant damage. Numerous power outages occurred. Some customers were without power for 12 days which coincided with a prolonged period of excessive heat. The derecho had its origin around Chicago, Illinois around 1:00 pm EST. By 7:00 pm EST the derecho had reached southeast West Virginia. Only two hours later, it was pushing through Southside Virginia. By midnight EST it had reached the Atlantic coast.

A major storm affected the eastern U.S. during the period from November 30-December 1 as a powerful upper low and surface system moved into the Great Lakes providing an extended period of deep southerly flow across the region. Precipitable water values were extremely high for very early December, running from 1.3 to 1.6 inches or nearly 200 percent of normal. Precipitation developed late on the 29th and produced moderate rains (0.25 to 0.50���) across the area for the 24 hours ending 12Z on the 30th. Heavier and more widespread precipitation developed on the evening of the 30th into the early morning hours of the 1st.

Strong low pressure tracked from Texas through Iowa from December 24-25 bringing a very strong east to southeasterly flow across the area. The winds gusted to near 60 mph across southeast West Virginia and caused pockets of damage to trees and power lines.

A dissipating MCS over KY/WV sent a gust front eastward into far southwest West Virginia. The combination of winds from this gust front and downburst winds from dissipating storms prompted the winds that caused numerous trees to fall. The amount of trees which fell was exacerbated due to soil conditions being nearly saturated from recent heavy rains. The falling trees brought down power lines in various locations, and there was one report from Mercer Co. of a 14 inch diameter tree falling into a house and damaging it.

High winds during the evening of the 22nd through the afternoon of the 23rd downed trees and power lines across Mercer County.

Thunderstorms during the morning of the 8th produced damaging winds and flash flooding.Persistent heavy rain from thunderstorms produced major flash flooding across the south portion of Mercer County from the morning of the 8th through the early morning of the 9th. Numerous evacuations were required with damage to homes and businesses. Numerous roads were closed with many washed out by the flooding and mudslides. In the south half of Summers County, heavy rains caused rockslides, and numerous small rivers and streams to flood. Numerous roads were closed and several washed out.Thunderstorm winds downed power lines along Route 12, two miles northeast of Alderson.

Thunderstorms during the afternoon of the 22nd produced hail up to nickel size, damaging winds, and flash flooding.Thunderstorm winds downed trees in Talcot, Waitville,and Peterstown, and trees and power lines in AldersonHeavy thunderstorm rains caused flooding on Route 20 in Athens, washed out County Route 20, one mile northeast of Forest Hill, flooded several streams across Monroe County,