Early Spring Storms Could Pack a Punch - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

swx

Early Spring Storms Could Pack a Punch

Posted: Updated:
By James Hopkins, Meteorologist - bio | email
NEW: Noon storm update shows the line of storm stretching from Morgantown to Nashville just outside the 59 News viewing area. This line of storms is slowly moving to the east, north east with lots of lightning on the southern edge. Expect the gusty winds to persist throughout the afternoon as the warm front passes and ahead of an approaching cold front. Temps will be a lot warmer in the southeast corner with high possibly reaching the 60 degree mark in places like Pineville while places to the east of the I-77 corridor struggling to reach 40. We can also expect periods of heavy rain in the early afternoon as these storm slowly move across the area which raises flooding concerns for small creeks, streams and roads with poor drainage.

_______________________________________________________________

After an up and down weekend a line of spring storms will push through the area around midday Monday. A warm front will bring us some mild air, warming things up quite a bit from what we saw on Sunday. Unfortunately the warm air is followed by a cold front which will help intensify the line of storms as they push through the area.

"This recent stretch of weather is really incredible.  Saturday we had highs near 70, followed by an entire day of snow and sleet just to the north of the 59 viewing area and now back to spring thunderstorms and possible flooding.  It's a true roller coaster ride of weather."says StormTracker 59 meteorologist James Hopkins.

Flash flooding could be a concern, especially for people driving.  These storms can put down a lot of rain in a short amount of time and the ground is already saturated from this weekends rain. There will also be a lot of lightning with these storms so viewers need to be alert to that, stay inside, away from windows and avoid holding corded phones or appliances. 

Gusty winds will also be possible today with these thunderstorms until a cold front finally pushes storms through Monday night. We could see wind gusts up to 35 miles-per-hour throughout the afternoon so power outages are not out of the question.

"Don't look for a spring warm up any time real soon as cool air is expected to linger though much of the week across Appalachia. The first two days of Spring could see temps struggling to reach the upper 30s." says Hopkins.