Winter Weather — Northwest Nicholas, West Virginia

2021-02-17 to 2021-02-18 · Northwest Nicholas, West Virginia

Wider weather episode

A third winter storm in a short span of time impacted West Virginia with snow and freezing rain, this time on February 17th through the 18th. The low pressure system involved in this event prompted a band of heavy snow along the Ohio River on the evening of the 17th and continued into the day on the 18th. 3 to 6 inches of snow fell across Central and Northern West Virginia, with the highest accumulations falling in the Sutton Lake area of Braxton County.

Freezing rain fell in portions of southeastern West Virginia and down into Virginia and North Carolina. The ASOS located at the Beckley airport in Raleigh County reported 0.36 inches of flat ice from the freezing rain while a nearby CoCoRaHS observer in Shady Spring reported 0.18 inches of radial ice.

This active weather pattern hindered efforts to restore power across the Tri-State region from the previous winter storms and caused hazardous travel conditions across much of the region. The snow accumulating on top of ice from previous storms also caused additional tree damage and power outages. According to Appalachian Power, the weight of the snow and ice from these storms caused trees to collapse onto wires and transmission towers to buckle. An estimated 550 broken power poles needed to be replaced and roughly 2,400 spans of wire needed to be put back up.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 945091. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.