CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Forecasters say, Hurricane Ian which is heading toward Florida’s Gulf Coast, will travel north and possibly dump several inches of rain in West Virginia this weekend.
Kimberly Hoeppner, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston, told MetroNews Wednesday the storm could enter the southern part of the state by Saturday.
“Our southeastern counties could see between 2-4 inches of rainfall,” Hoeppner said.
Ian could then move toward the Capital City, but she said it all depends where the system decides to go after it makes landfall.
“If this track shifts its path a little bit further west that will be spread toward Charleston,” Hoeppner said. “On average, for the lowland locations across Charleston, Huntington and north up toward Parkersburg and Clarksburg we’re looking at half an inch of rainfall.”
Remnants of hurricanes and other tropical storms in West Virginia is common this time of year, Hoeppner said.
“It is very active in the season across the south between September and October, so it’s not unusual to see these storms tracking into our direction,” she said.
A lot of rainfall in a concentrated area is always a risk due to West Virginia’s terrain, but Hoeppner said this season has been dryer than usual so the potential impacts may not be as widespread.
“Fortunately, this time of the season our rivers are usually at the lowest points and we’ve had some dry periods so our soils aren’t as saturated, but we still need to monitor,” she said.
Mainly quiet again today aside from a few showers north this afternoon, with dry weather for Friday. Remnants of Ian approach for a wet weekend. #WVwx #VAwx #OHwx #KYwx pic.twitter.com/po9sfPGCgv
— NWS Charleston, WV (@NWSCharlestonWV) September 28, 2022
The storm will through much of Sunday into early Monday before shifting further to the northeastern part of the country.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Ian was listed as a Category 4 hurricane with max sustained winds of up to 155 miles per hour.