CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Strong upper level winds are expected to keep rain totals in West Virginia on the lower side from the moisture produced by Hurricane Helene.
National Weather Meteorologist John Peck said the rain and wind will arrive Friday morning and strong winds will hit the mountains and squeeze out a lot of moisture keeping rainfall totals at moderate levels.
“You’ll basically have downslope winds coming off the mountains and that kind of eat the rain as it tries to fall through the columns,” Peck told MetroNews.
The lowlands will probably pick up an inch of rain or maybe a little more. The rain will begin in the pre-dawn hours Friday. The strong winds aloft will be between 50-70 mph with gusts between 30-40 mph at ground level.
The main part of what’s left of Helene will pass over West Virginia Friday afternoon.
Peck said this week’s rain has been good but way short of what’s needed to break the drought.
“To get the groundwater recharged we need about 10 inches or so and this time of year or don’t have those big systems coming in,” Peck said.
Some areas of the southern coalfields have received 3 to 5 inches of rain since Tuesday while other areas were closer to an inch.
“We’re just going to need just a long period of relatively light rain,” Peck said.
Next week’s weather pattern has a few more opportunities for rain but not a lot, Peck said.
“It’s going to be relatively dry outside any tropical influence,” he said.