Flooding in West Virginia, June 4, 2004

Name: Flooding in West Virginia, June 4, 2004
Start: 2004-06-04T18:30
End: 2004-06-04T23:00
Location: West Virginia

June 4, 2004 · NWS RLX · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

5 to 2 inches fell during a 12 hour period across saturated soil across much of Mingo and Logan Counties. 5 inches fell.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $1.0 million
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS RLX wrote it up.

Widespread rains of 1.5 to 2 inches fell during a 12 hour period across saturated soil across much of Mingo and Logan Counties. Over a more concentrated area, estimated rain amounts of 2 to 3.5 inches fell. These higher rain totals affected the headwaters of Pigeon Creek near Pie, Varney, and Ragland, plus the Island Creek basin, near Omar and Sarah Ann. Flooding occurred for the second time in less than a week. Water rescues and evacuations took place. A young woman and her infant son were rescued. She said, "It was at the front of my house, and I was just praying to God that someone rescue me. They showed up right in time, and I'm just thankful to be alive." Over 200 homes in Mingo County were affected with 141 having major damage. After the flood of May 30th, many residents had what was left of their possessions sitting in their yards and nearby parking lots to dry. This second round of flooding washed some of these personal belongings away. A few dozen private bridges were damaged. This damage was added to the federal disaster that was declared after the events from late May.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Charleston, WV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 4, 6:20 PM EST, 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 4, 6:20 PM EST, 10 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
720 PM EDT FRI JUN 4 2004

.UPDATE FOR AVIATION...

.DISCUSSION...

340 PM EDT FRI JUN 4 2004

.SHORT TERM...THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT.

UPPER LOW SLOWLY MOVING E ACROSS SERN KY WITH DIURNAL TSTMS IGNITING
IN THE DRY SLOT UNDER STEEPER LAPSE RATES.  AFOREMENTIONED
CONVECTION WANES WITH DUSK...SO HIGH WATER THREAT DIMINISHES AS
FOCUS SHIFTS BACK TO THE REGION DRIVEN BY DYNAMICS...H8 MSTR FLUX
CONV...AND LAYERED Q-VEC CONV.  FOLLOWED GFS TRACKING OF H5 LOW
WHICH SHUNTS LOW EAST TOWARDS VA THAT IS SUPPORTED BY LATEST 6.7U
STLT PIX.  THAT IN MIND...MAIN PRECIP AXIS SHIFTS TO THE NRN CWA
WHERE GREATEST LIFT IS PRESENT.

BL MSTR REMAINS HIGHS THROUGHOUT THE FIRST HALF OF SAT...SO INCLUDED
PATCHY DZ AFT 06Z FOR SOUTHERN FA.  WE SHOULD SEE SOME BREAKS IN THE
CLOUDS TMRW AFTN...ESP IN THE S AS UPR LO PULLS NE.

SAT NGT BENIGN WEATHER AS FLOW TURNS ANTICYCLONIC WITH LAYER RH
LOWERING.  ADJUSTED MAV NUMBERS UP A DEG OR TWO TONIGHT...OTHERWISE
THEY WERE ACCEPTED.

.LONG TERM...SUNDAY ON

THE BENIGN WEATHER CONTINUES INTO SUNDAY.  DID LEAVE SMALL CHANCE IN
FOR THE AFTERNOON AS SORT WAVES MOVES INTO THE AREA.  ETA SHOWS COLD
FRONT AND MOISTURE CONVERGENCE AND LIFT BEHIND THE SHORT WAVE.  GFS
IS JUST FARTHER NORTH WITH SHORT...AND HAS MCS OR CONVECTIVE
FEEDBACK FEATURE SOUTH OF THE SHORT WAVE AND RIGHT OVER THE CWA.

FRONT STRUGGLES TO MAYBE GET TO NORTHERN COUNTIES MONDAY BEFORE
DISSIPATING.  AIR MASS BECOMES MARGINALLY UNSTABLE DURING THE
AFTERNOONS AND EVENINGS WITH HIGH HEIGHTS THROUGH THE BALANCE OF THE
WORK WEEK.  LEFT SMALL CHANCE DIURNAL POPS IN THERE WITH WEAKNESSES
IN H5 HEIGHT FIELD.

MOS LOOKED REASONABLE THIS FORECAST CYCLE.

29/TRM

&&

.PREVIOUS DISCUSSION

1050 PM EDT FRI JUN 4 2004

H5 LOW EVIDENT ON 6.7U SATELLITE PIX SPINNING OVER EXTREME SOUTH
CENTRAL KENTUCKY WITH OCCLUDED FRONT TRAILING TO SURFACE LOW IN
WESTERN S.C.  AREA OF RA PICKING UP OVER THE LAST FEW HOURS WITH
EMBEDDED TRW...HOWEVER RAINFALL RATES HAVENT BEEN
IMPRESSIVE...GENERALLY 0.25 TO 0.50 INCHES TO THIS POINT.  BEST
WINDOW FOR ACCUM RAINFALL IS 15-19Z OVER SRN WV THEN IT SHIFT N /NE
IN THE AFTN AS H2 DIV/H8 MSTR CONV/H7-H3 Q-VEC CONV EXISTS.

TOPSY TURVY TEMP FCST AS NRN SITES EXCEED CLIMATOLOGICAL WARMER
SITES OF CRW-HTS BY 5-7F AS MORNING SUN HAS SHOT TEMPS INTO THE LWR
TO MID 60S.  ADJ HIGHS TO REFLECT WARMER TEMPS FM UNI TO CKB AND LWR
BKW -SUM AREA WITH UPSLOPE FLOW COMMENCING.

WILL BE LOOKING AT WHETHER THE FLOOD WATCH NEEDS TO BE EXPANDED INTO
MORE NORTHERN COUNTIES OF WV...SUCH AS EKN...CKB VICINITY..

29

&&

.AVIATION...

720 PM EDT FRI JUN 4 2004

RAIN SHOWERS WRAPPING AROUND UPPER LEVEL LOW...WITH A FEW
THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE SOUTHEASTERN CORNER OF THE CWA...NEAR BKW.
HAVE ADDED TSRA TO BKW FOR THE FIRST FEW HOURS AND MAY NEED TO
REASSES THIS AFTER 02Z.  MVFR CONDITIONS EXPECTED TO BE
PREDOMINATE THROUGH THE PERIOD.

LOW LEVEL MOISTURE BTWN 06-14Z BRINGS IFR/MVFR CONDS WITH -DZ UNTIL
DZ STOPS AND CIGS LIFT A CAT.

KF

&&

.HYDROLOGY...

340 PM EDT FRI JUN 4 2004

FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 PM TONIGHT FOR THE SOUTHERN 1/3 OF
WV...ERN KY...SWVA AND GALLIA..JACKSON AND LAWRENCE COUNTIES IN OH.
THIS WATCH IS MAINLY FOR SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS. ADDITIONAL
RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF AN INCH ALONG WITH THE RAIN THAT ALREADY FELL
COULD CAUSE SMALL STREAM PROBLEMS IN THE WATCH AREA.  WE ARE NOT
CURRENTLY NOT EXPECTING ANY RIVER PROBLEMS WITH THIS SYSTEM.

JS

&&

.RLX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...

WV...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 1100 PM EDT FRIDAY FOR ZONES
     WVZ005>008...WVZ013>016...WVZ024>026...WVZ033>036.
VA...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 1100 PM EDT FRIDAY FOR ZONES VAZ003>004.
KY...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 1100 PM EDT FRIDAY FOR ZONES
     KYZ101>103...KYZ105.
OH...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 1100 PM EDT FRIDAY FOR ZONES
     OHZ083...OHZ086>087.

&&

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 4, 3:30 AM EST, 15 hours before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
430 AM EDT FRI JUN 4 2004

KYZ101>103-105-OHZ066-067-075-076-083>087-VAZ003-004-WVZ005>011-
013>020-024>040-046-047-050900-
ATHENS OH-BARBOUR WV-BOONE WV-BOYD KY-BRAXTON WV-BUCHANAN VA-CABELL
WV-CALHOUN WV-CARTER KY-CLAY WV-DICKENSON VA-DODDRIDGE WV-FAYETTE
WV-GALLIA OH-GILMER WV-GREENUP KY-HARRISON WV-JACKSON WV-JACKSON
OH-KANAWHA WV-LAWRENCE OH-LAWRENCE KY-LEWIS WV-LINCOLN WV-LOGAN
WV-MASON WV-MCDOWELL WV-MEIGS OH-MINGO WV-MORGAN OH-NICHOLAS
WV-PERRY OH-PLEASANTS WV-POCAHONTAS WV-PUTNAM WV-RALEIGH WV-RANDOLPH
WV-RITCHIE WV-ROANE WV-TAYLOR WV-TYLER WV-UPSHUR WV-VINTON
OH-WASHINGTON OH-WAYNE WV-WEBSTER WV-WIRT WV-WOOD WV-WYOMING WV
430 AM EDT FRI JUN 4 2004

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEASTERN OHIO...
NORTHEASTERN KENTUCKY...SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA...AND MOST OF WEST
VIRGINIA.

.DAY ONE...

RAINFALL OF 1 TO 2 INCHES IS POSSIBLE TODAY WITH LOCALIZED HIGHER
AMOUNTS. THIS COULD CAUSE FLOODING OF STREAMS...CREEKS...AND
RIVERS.

* FLOOD WATCH................SEE WGUS61 KRLX - FFARLX FOR DETAILS *

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER
CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.

YOUNG

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 4, 5:22 PM EST, 1 hour 8 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
622 PM EDT FRI JUN 04 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0545 PM     FLOOD            10 NE GRUNDY            37.38N 81.97W
06/04/2004                   BUCHANAN           VA   COUNTY OFFICIAL

            WATER ON ROADS IN THE COMPTON MOUNTAIN AREA

&&

KF

Local storm report, Jun 4, 6:27 PM EST, 3 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
727 PM EDT FRI JUN 04 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0714 PM     FLOOD            1 N RED JACKET          37.66N 82.13W
06/04/2004                   MINGO              WV   COUNTY OFFICIAL

            WATER OVER ROADS IN THE VARNEY AREA

&&

KF

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Mingo

When: June 4, 6:30 PM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Mingo forecast zone
Property damage: $850,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.726, -82.135 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Logan

When: June 4, 6:30 PM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Logan forecast zone
Property damage: $150,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.832, -81.935 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in West Virginia in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in West Virginia, June 2004

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5406682, 5406683.