Thunderstorm Wind — Tucker, West Virginia

2020-04-08 · near Porterwood, Tucker, West Virginia

Event narrative

Several large limbs were blown down along Route 72.

Wider weather episode

Broad ridging was in place across the Mississippi Valley on the morning of the 7th, with the Upper Ohio Valley region experiencing WNW flow aloft. After morning showers and thunderstorms moved across the area due to a warm front, the upper level flow regime brought an elevated mixed layer (EML) into the region during the afternoon, capping convection during the afternoon and early evening hours.

Convective clusters over Michigan during the evening congealed into a mesoscale convective system (MCS) and raced across Lake Erie, arriving in the NWS Pittsburgh forecast area shortly before midnight. Steep mid-level lapse rates thanks to the EML allow for a few large hail reports initially. However, the main impact of the system would be from wind. Surface temperatures surged into the low to mid 60s ahead of the line on gusty southwest winds, resulting in surface CAPE of 1000 J/kg and a significant curving/lengthening of the hodograph. With the boundary layer no longer decoupled, strong ambient mid-level flow combined with highly efficient evaporational cooling in the convective downdrafts allowed substantial downdraft CAPE to be realized. Although storms had weakened somewhat before they reached northern West Virginia, several wind damage reports were still received.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.1120, -79.6824)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 886369. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.