Winter Storm — Northwest Pocahontas, West Virginia

2023-05-02 to 2023-05-03 · Northwest Pocahontas, West Virginia

Wider weather episode

A historic late season snowstorm impacted the higher elevations of the West Virginia mountains on May 1st and continued into May 4th. This broke the all-time May snowfall records for our County Warning Area and the state of West Virginia. The set up for this unseasonable event was caused by a large disturbance that stalled/spun north of the region, resulting in an extended high elevation snowfall event.

Snowfall amounts up to 16 inches were reported in portions of Pocahontas and Randolph Counties at elevations above 4,000 feet, with amounts steadily decreasing at lower mountain elevations. Most accumulating snowfall occurred at elevations near/above 3,000 feet during the overnight hours with some melting during the day as a result of the high May sun angle.

Overall snow totals shattered the former largest snowstorm on record for the state of West Virginia by over 8 inches. A new state Greatest May Snow Depth record was also set with this storm by our Cooperative Observer site in Snowshoe, West Virginia with an impressive snow depth of 15 inches on the morning of May 4th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1103957. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.