High Wind — Washington, Virginia

2024-09-27 · Washington, Virginia

Event narrative

Numerous trees were felled by severe winds from Helene across Washington County VA, with over 110 reports of fallen trees logged on the 27th alone by the county dispatch. Extremely saturated soils combined with a long duration wind event led to trees easily toppling over, leading to widespread power outages and several instances of structural damage across the county during the height of the storm.

Wider weather episode

Tropical Storm Helene caps off a several day heavy rainfall event in association with a stalled closed upper low with additional rain yielding catastrophic flash and river flooding, and significant wind damage as wet soils and strong wind gusts led to forest damage.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1217870. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.