Winter Storm — Eastern Greenbrier, West Virginia

2015-02-16 to 2015-02-17 · Eastern Greenbrier, West Virginia

Event narrative

The Greenbrier County Deputy Emergency Management Director observed 11.0 inches in Renick while at trained spotter measured 11.0 inches at Ronceverte.

Wider weather episode

Immediately on the heels of the intense Arctic outbreak that spread into the region on the 14th and 15th came the most significant snow storm to affect the region since February 12th and 13th of 2014. The snow storm was the result of a strong upper-level disturbance tracking from the central U.S. into the eastern U.S. on top of the bitterly cold Arctic air mass. A surface low pressure area tracked across the southeast states to off the North Carolina coast, a fairly typical scenario for bigger snowfall events within the region. Temperatures had little to no time to recover at all from the bitterly cold temperatures of the 15th. As snow spread into the region during the late morning and early afternoon hours of the 16th, temperatures were only in the upper teens to lower 20s across the region and fell back into the 10 to 20 degree range across much of the region during the heavier snow. Snowfall amounts in southeast West Virginia approached a foot in several locations, with Princeton in Mercer county reporting 12.0 inches. Here are the snowfall amounts from the southeast West Virginia counties within the Blacksburg forecast area:

Western Greenbrier County - 12.0 inches at Meadow Bluff to 9.2 inches at McRoss,

Eastern Greenbrier County - 11.0 inches at Renick and Ronceverte,

Mercer County - 12.0 inches at Princeton to 8.8 inches at the Bluefield/Mercer County Airport),

Monroe County - 9.5 inches 2 SSW of Red Sulphur Springs to 8.0 inches at Peterstown,

Summers County - 5.5 inches at Forest Hill to 4.0 inches at Hinton.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 563309. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.