West Virginia witnesses unprecedented snowfall in May, breaking century-old records
Image credit: NOAA/GOES-East, RAMMB/CIRA, The Watchers. Acquired at 17:40 UTC on May 3, 2023
Unprecedented snowfall in West Virginia’s highlands over the past couple of days broke century-old records, with areas like Davis in Tucker County receiving over 38 cm (15 inches) of snow in just two days.
For two consecutive days, West Virginia’s higher elevations experienced wintery conditions in May, with record-breaking snowfall amounts. According to Meteorologist Shannon Hefferan from the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, an observer near Davis in Tucker County recorded 40.4 cm (15.9 inches) of snow in two days, an exceptional occurrence for May.
While there were other snow reports, the majority were from slightly lower elevations with considerably less snowfall. Once off the ridgetops, the ground was wet, and temperatures were cooler, but conditions were closer to spring.
Some snowfall totals for the two-day event in May were staggering and broke long-standing records. In Tucker County, Davis received 41.1 cm (16.2 inches) of snow, breaking a 100-year-old record. Snowshoe in Pocahontas County saw 33 cm (13 inches) of snow, surpassing the previous record set in 1975.
Hefferan expects the snow to melt quickly as temperatures rise to around 21 °C (70 °F) in those areas by the end of the week, returning to spring weather.
The runoff from melting snow will be monitored for potential flooding downstream, but Hefferan does not anticipate problems due to the low river levels and dry conditions in April.
References:
1 A second day of snowfall sets historic records in some W.Va. locations – WV Metro News – May 3, 2023
Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
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