October and November can produce some pretty unusual weather
Here it is early November and we still have lots of leaves on our trees. In the mountains, many of the trees are now bare, however good color can still be seen in the lower elevations.
This past week, we had our second period of Indian summer weather with the temperature hitting 80 degrees on Wednesday.
Temperatures in October were above normal and most folks would agree, it has been an unusual year.
The warm temperatures are also responsible for the Great Lakes water temperatures running 6 degrees above normal. This should set the stage for some pretty impressive lake effect snows when we finally get some cold air flowing across these warmer bodies of water.
October and November can produce some pretty unusual weather.
In 1993 Halloween saw 9 inches of snow in the mountains and some 4-6 inches in the lower elevations. You may also recall the unusually heavy snows that were associated with Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
In the mountains of Western Maryland and West Virginia accumulations reached 3 and 4 feet of heavy wet snow. Snow fell on the back side of the Hurricane from Tennessee through the Ohio Valley and on into New England. Farmington reported 8 inches of snow. Hurricane Sandy was perhaps one of the most devastating storms to hit the United States in recent memory and heavy snow in our area was just a part of it.
Some years earlier, the remnants of Hurricane Juan combined with a stalled weather front over the Middle Atlantic region and produced the Election Day Flood of 1985. This flood had a tremendous effect on our area and produced widespread flooding from Southwest Pennsylvania into Northern West Virginia. Southwestern Pennsylvania received 3-5 inches of rain, however totals in Northern West Virginia were between 5 and 10 inches, with Canaan Valley reporting 10.36 inches.
The ground was already saturated and the water had no place to go. Rivers rose quickly and caught many without much warning. At Point Marion, flood stage is 26 feet. On the morning of November 5, 1985, the river was at 40 feet, some 14 feet over flood stage. Flooding also took place at Brownsville and Charleroi. Flood stage at Charleroi is 28 feet. The river crested at a historic 42.70 feet.
In West Virginia, it was worse. Most of the rivers in the state experienced flooding and many small rural towns were just wiped off the map. In Albright, West Virginia, 110 of the 132 homes were destroyed or suffered serious damage. It was the same story through Northern West Virginia. Forty-three bridges were destroyed and 80 more were damaged. Sixty-two people died from the floods.