Heavy Rain in West Virginia, July 6, 2008

Name: Heavy Rain in West Virginia, July 6, 2008
Start: 2008-07-06T19:20
End: 2008-07-06T20:20
Location: West Virginia

July 6, 2008 · NWS RLX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

5 to 2 inches of rain in less than an hour, on the headwaters of Sugar Creek in Charleston. Meanwhile, other parts of the city had no rain.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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
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Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $5,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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.

Near sunset, a slow moving and isolated thunderstorm dumped an estimated 1.5 to 2 inches of rain in less than an hour, on the headwaters of Sugar Creek in Charleston. Meanwhile, other parts of the city had no rain.

The fast flowing water in the headwaters caused bank erosion along the road. Near the mouth of the urbanized hollow, water backed up behind a culvert and flowed into a few vulnerable basements and garages.

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 Jul 6, 6:29 PM EST, 51 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 6, 6:29 PM EST, 51 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 6, 3:22 AM EST, 15 hours 58 minutes before

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In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 6, 2:49 PM EST, 4 hours 31 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Jul 6, 5:10 PM EST, 2 hours 10 minutes before

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Local storm report, Jul 6, 6:34 PM EST, 46 minutes before

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The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Rain, Kanawha

When: July 6, 7:20 PM EST to 8:20 PM EST
Where: Kanawha County, 1.97 mi NW of Etowah to 0.83 mi ENE of West Charleston
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: NWS Storm Survey
Coordinates: 38.399, -81.628

What these are

Heavy Rain: Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in West Virginia in 2008 Every state in 2008 This day in weather history Warnings in West Virginia, July 2008

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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 116437.