Heavy Snow — Northwest Randolph, West Virginia

2022-01-06 to 2022-01-07 · Northwest Randolph, West Virginia

Wider weather episode

A low pressure system crossed to the south of the Central Appalachians on January 6th, bringing abundant moisture to the area. This disturbance congealed with a cold airmass dropping down from the Upper Midwest and resulted in precipitation to fall as all snow throughout the afternoon and evening hours. Snowfall totals ranged from 8 to 12 inches around the Charleston metro area and up to 14 inches of snow in the mountains and adjacent foothills.

Snow began to fall around 2 PM that afternoon with 1 to 2 inch per hour snowfall rates. This quickly laid upon the highways and secondary roads, which posed a nuisance for the evening travel commute on the 6th. All major highways in West Virginia observed longer than normal travel times and eventual closures due to slick spots and vehicle accidents. Overnight freezing temperatures and light lake-effect snow showers also resulted in a slow morning commute on the 7th.

A swath of 6 to 12 inches of snow covered most areas from south of I-64 in northeast Kentucky northeastward across a large portion of West Virginia. Lesser amounts fell along the Ohio River and northwest into the state of Ohio. At the Charleston Weather Forecast Office, 10.5 inches of snow fell, which was the greatest snowfall since the January 2016 snowstorm when 18.6 inches fell over 2 days. Similar stats were observed at the regional airports, where this was the greatest snowfall that had fallen in the past few years.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 992122. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.