CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Much of West Virginia will see some winter weather Thursday and Friday.
The National Weather Service in Charleston says two fronts are about to collide over parts of the Mountain State and Ohio, and the result will be a strong wintry mix.
“An Arctic front is moving in from the north, and a southern stream of moisture is coming up from the south. Those are going to collide tomorrow into Friday,” meteorologist John Peck told MetroNews on Wednesday.
The system will produce rainfall for Wednesday into Thursday for the Kanawha Valley and Central West Virginia. The rainfall could be enough to create minor flooding in low-lying areas on Thursday, and small streams and creeks may come out of their banks. Over the course of several days, the system will dump a couple of inches of rainfall on the region.
The agency issued a flood watch for Wayne, Cabell, Mason, Jackson, Wood, Pleasants, Tyler, Lincoln, Putnam, Kanawha, Roane, Wirt, Ritchie, Mingo, Logan, Boone, McDowell and Wyoming counties because of the forecasted rain. The flood watch will be in effect from Thursday at 7 a.m. to Friday at 1 a.m.
According to Peck, the temperatures will change on Thursday night and the rain will turn to ice and then sleet.
“We’ll see an accumulation of ice of about a tenth of an inch, then transition over to sleet during the morning commute hours Friday, and then eventually light snow before tapering off Friday,” he explained.
The ice accumulations will be higher as you go to the north and west of the Charleston area; parts of Ohio will see a much more significant ice accumulation from the storm. West Virginia’s northern panhandle will also see a heavier coating of ice from the system.
A winter weather advisory for Wayne, Cabell, Mason, Jackson, Wood, Pleasants, Tyler, Lincoln, Putnam, Kanawha, Roane, Wirt, Calhoun, Ritchie, Doddridge, Mingo, Logan, Boone, Clay, Braxton, Gilmer, Lewis and Harrison counties will go into effect Thursday at 7 p.m. and remain in effect until Friday at 1 p.m. Wetzel County will be under a winter storm warning beginning Thursday at 4 a.m., in which the warning will remain in effect until Friday at 10 a.m.
A winter storm warning for Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall and Wetzel counties will go into effect Thursday at 4 a.m., and it will remain in effect until Friday at 10 a.m.