Strong Wind — Southeast Fayette, West Virginia

2024-01-09 to 2024-01-10 · Southeast Fayette, West Virginia

Wider weather episode

Low pressure dropping down from the Great Lakes set forth a slew of weather concerns from January 9th to the 10th in the form of rain, snow, and strong winds.

Along the higher mountains of West Virginia, temperatures were cold enough for precipitation to fall as snow for a brief time on January 9th before transitioning over to rain. In Northwest Pocahontas County, a local cooperative observer measured around 5 inches of snow had fallen on the morning of the 9th.

Strong winds attached to this storm contributed to widespread power outages due to downed trees and power lines. This was at the result of a decent low level jet accompanying the disturbance. Initial strong wind gust observations took place by the late morning hours on the 9th across the West Virginia lowlands as daytime heating mixed down the higher winds from aloft. At the Charleston Yeager Airport, a 41 mile per hour wind gust was measured just before 3 PM that day, similarly around the time that several other counties observed tree damage. The strongest winds were predicted to occur along the mountains and adjacent foothills through the evening of the 9th. Winds in excess of 45-55 miles per hour resulted in thousands of power outages to local homes from northeast West Virginia down into the Greenbrier Valley through the course of the day.

Winds continued to be gusty in the evening as the low pressure system slowly tracked through the region. During this timeframe, a tree fell onto a house in Cross Lanes, which caused serious damage to the structure and trapped one occupant inside. The local resident was rescued and sustained minor injuries as a result of the incident.

As the disturbance drifted off to the east and out of the Central Appalachians, winds gradually diminished through the day on January 10th. Until that occurred, additional reports of downed trees and power lines were noted along the eastern flank of the state according to local 911 Call Centers. Power restoration efforts would take an additional few days after the winds simmered down.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1148064. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.