Heavy Rain — Summers, West Virginia

2020-02-06 to 2020-02-07 · near Glenray, Summers, West Virginia

Event narrative

The NWS Cooperative station at Alderson (ALDW2) set a daily rainfall record of 2.09 inches for the 24-hour period ending 700 AM EST on February 6th, breaking the old record of 1.33 inches set in 1955. It was also the 2nd highest one-day rain in February, behind the existing record of 2.69 inches on Feb. 21, 1953 (nearly complete data since 1944).

Wider weather episode

A deep upper-level trough moved slowly across the central and eastern U.S. bringing abundant moisture northward and combined with a complex frontal boundary and several waves of low pressure to bring repeated rounds of heavy rainfall. Rainfall totals in a 72-hour period ending at 700 AM EST on February 7th ranged from 2 to 4 inches with isolated higher amounts, but most of the rain fell within a 48-hour period. Numerous NWS Cooperative stations reported record one-day February rainfall amounts ending on the morning of February 6th and/or 7th and numerous two-day all-time February records were also set. Some flash flooding occurred during the event as higher rates of rainfall occurred embedded within the overall rain pattern. A state of emergency was declared by the West Virginia Governor in Monroe and Greenbrier counties due to the flooding.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.7272, -80.6584)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 873451. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.