Strong Wind — Kanawha, West Virginia

2025-12-19 · Kanawha, West Virginia

Wider weather episode

A strong, reinforcing cold front crossed through West Virginia very late on December 18th into the early morning hours of the 19th, and caused an impactful wind event across the area. This front was accompanied by a notable low level jet that inflicted a quick uptick in wind gusts along a line of showers and embedded thunderstorms. Elevated wind gusts venturing in along the precipitation shield arrived into the western parts of the state around midnight on the 19th and swept across the forecast area through the early morning hours hours. Winds aloft were noted to be on the order of 70 to 100 miles per hour, which helped to propel the cold front through West Virginia rather quickly, while surface gusts remained elevated into the morning due to the strong jet present. This caused substantial damage to businesses and homes across the state, in addition to almost 50,000 customers without power.

A damage survey was conducted in the communities of Wharton and Barrett in Boone County due to the significant storm damage that occurred from this event. It was determined that straight-line winds of up to 90 miles per hour caused the tree and structural damage in these communities. Several homes were damaged in this area, with significant roof damage noted on some double wide and single wide homes. Elsewhere in the forecast area, thousands of power outages were noted in each county of West Virginia, with other observing weather stations reporting gusts as strong as 50 to 70 miles per hour in the midst of the frontal passage.

Surface winds subsided near or shortly after sunrise on December 19th as the frontal boundary dashed as far as the eastern seaboard and high pressure began to build into the western Ohio Valley.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1303168. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.