Winter Weather — Wetzel, West Virginia

2024-01-18 to 2024-01-20 · Wetzel, West Virginia

Event narrative

A total of 4 to 6 inches was reported.

Wider weather episode

During the early morning hours on January 18th 2024, a surface low pressure system began to develop over the southeast CONUS. The surface low further developed as it tracked northeast along the Appalachian range. The deformation snowfall begin to develop just to the south along the northern WV areas and just south of the forecast area. The area of development did eventually move north as it overcame a low level dry area in the profile. However, the frontogenetic banding was weaker than forecasted and came in with lower snowfall amounts than forecasted through the day on Thursday. By Thursday evening and Thursday night, the surface low pushed off to the east and off the East Coast. Behind the front, during the early morning hours of January 19th, the lake enhanced upslope began as a post frontal trough assisted in snow shower development. The snow showers produced heavy snowfall at times and quickly made up for the lack of snow during the synoptic snowfall period.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1160385. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.