Strong Wind in Southeast Randolph, West Virginia

Rain and a few storms traversed the area on the night of February 27th, then activity began to increase the morning of the 28th as a cold front slowly approached from the west. Strong to severe storms initially developed out ahead of a convective line during the early morning hours of the 28th. The front edge of the line pushed into Southeast Ohio and Northeastern Kentucky shortly before daybreak and then continued east across West Virginia into the early afternoon on the 28th.

In West Virginia, the strongest winds and most robust storm activity occurred along the leading edge of this line. In the wake of the storms, downed trees were observed across Putnam, Kanawha, Ritchie, Upshur, and McDowell Counties. In addition to storms, one to two inches of rain fell over soils that were already saturated from rain the previous day. From late morning through the afternoon of the 28th, several roads became impassable due to flooding in Wayne, Cabell, Putnam, and Kanawha Counties. Flooding came to an end as rain exited West Virginia the evening of the 28th.

In the mountains of West Virginia, a brief period of strong non-thunderstorm winds occurred as the strong disturbance passed into the Mid-Atlantic region on the evening of the 28th. This resulted in downed trees across parts of Randolph County. Winds diminished quickly on the morning of February 29th as high pressure began to move in from the west.