Predawn thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front. A few cells pulsed to severe limits.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS RLX wrote it up.
Predawn thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front. A few cells pulsed to severe limits.
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 Sep 9, 12:49 AM EST, 46 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV 149 AM EDT TUE SEP 9 2008 .SYNOPSIS... A COLD FRONT PASSES TUESDAY...BUT STALLS TO OUR SOUTH. THERE WILL BE A STRONG NORTH TO SOUTH MOISTURE GRADIENT WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY...WITH DRIER CONDITIONS TO THE NORTH AND WEST. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TODAY/... LOW LEVEL MOISTURE CONVERGENCE MAY BE DRIVING THE CONVECTION OVER ERN TN MONDAY EVENING...AND LOW LEVEL MOISTURE CONVERGENCE CONTINUES TO INCREASE DURING THE LATE NIGHT AND TUESDAY MORNING...AHEAD OF THE FRONT. WILL INCREASE POPS FIRST IN SW VA AND SE WV THEN MOST AREAS DURING THE PREDAWN HOURS. CONVECTION TO OUR WEST...AIDED UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE ASSOCIATED WITH JET MAXIMUM OVER GREAT LAKES. MAY BE A BREAK BETWEEN THE LATE NIGHT AND EARLY MORNING SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS AND THE SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THE FRONT ITSELF. THINKING BEST CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS FROM MIDDAY ON WOULD BE SE WV AND VA. PLAYED WITH THE MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE ON TUESDAY...LOWERING IT...AND ALSO A NON-DIURNAL TRACE. WITH TEMPERATURES FALLING BEHIND FRONT...BUT MAY RECOVER IN SOUTHEAST OHIO DURING THE MID AND LATE AFTERNOON. && .SHORT TERM /TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY/... FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL BE COMPLETELY THROUGH THE CWA BY THE BEGINNING OF THE SHORT TERM FORECAST PERIOD...TAKING THE MAJORITY OF THE POPS WITH IT. HIGH PRESSURE WILL HAVE SOME DIFFICULTY ELIMINATING MOST OF THE MOISTURE...ESPECIALLY DOWN SOUTH. THIS WILL KEEP THE POTENTIAL FOR SOME CONVECTION WEDNESDAY AS A SURFACE TROUGH DEVELOPS...SUPPLYING SOME CONVERGENCE AS A POSSIBLE SPARK TO SUCH ACTIVITY. THE REMAINDER OF THE SHORT TERM BECOMES CLEAR TO MOSTLY CLEAR...LESS SOME CLOUDS HANGING ON TO THE EXTREME SOUTHERN CWA. TEMPERATURES WILL RETURN TO ABOVE NORMAL FOR THURSDAY. && .LONG TERM /THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY/... THE LONG TERM IS HIGHLIGHTED BY THE POTENTIAL TRACK OF THE REMNANTS OF IKE. ECMWF IS SUGGESTING THAT THE STORM GETS CAUGHT UP IN THE FLOW OF A TROUGH EJECTING OUT OF THE CENTRAL PLAINS...AND WILL LIFT IT NORTHEASTWARD TOWARDS THE OHIO RIVER VALLEY. HIGH PRESSURE WILL DO ITS BEST TO HANG ON WHILE LINGERING IN THE MID ATLANTIC REGION DURING THIS TIME. LARGELY WENT WITH HPC GUIDANCE IN THE LONG TERM... BUT ADJUSTED TO HIGHLIGHT THE WESTERN AND NORTHERN ZONES WITH THE POPS AS SUGGESTED BY THE EUROPEAN AND THE DGEX. DID NOT RELY TOO MUCH ON THE GFS AS SUGGESTED IN THE HPC DISCUSSION...AS IT IS THE OUTLIER OF THE GROUP. FLOW CARRYING THE REMNANTS OF IKE WILL SPEED THE SYSTEM THROUGH VERY QUICKLY THROUGH THE AREA...SO NO INDICATIONS OF ANY ISSUES EXIST AT THE MOMENT. && .AVIATION /06Z TUESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY/... RAIN DEVELOPING QUICKLY ACROSS THE AREA EARLY THIS MORNING WILL CAUSE IFR CONDITIONS AT TIMES...ESPECIALLY IN THUNDERSTORMS. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE APPROACHING THE OHIO FROM THE W...WITH INDIVIDUAL CELLS MOVING MORE N THAN E. THUNDERSTORMS WERE ALSO ENTERING WV FROM THE S. MOISTURE TRANSPORT WILL CONTINUE INTO THE AREA EARLY THIS MORNING...RESULTING IN THE INCREASING COVERAGE OF RAINFALL. THE MOST LIKELY TIME FOR IFR IN THUNDERSTORMS IS DAYBREAK THROUGH ABOUT MIDDAY. AS THE COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS EVENING...FLOW WILL GO FROM S AND THEN SW AHEAD OF THE FRONT...TO NW...N AND EVENTUALLY NE BEHIND THE FRONT. CLEARING WILL GET TO ABOUT CENTRAL WV BY THIS EVENING...WITH SLOW SWD PROGRESS TONIGHT. AREAS S AND E OF CRW...TO INCLUDE BKW...WILL HAVE IFR CLOUDS TONIGHT...WHILE AREA TO THE NW GET IFR OR WORSE FOG ON RADIATION BENEATH THE CLEAR SKY...ALTHOUGH THIS HOLDS OFF UNTIL 06Z OR BEYOND. FOR THE MOST PART. AVIATION OUTLOOK /BEYOND 06Z WEDNESDAY/...IFR WX PSBL IN STRATUS AND FOG OVER SRN WV LATE TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY...AND IN FOG NRN WV DURING THE EARLY MORNING HOURS WEDNESDAY. && .RLX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WV...NONE. OH...NONE. KY...NONE. VA...NONE. && SYNOPSIS...KTB/TRM NEAR TERM...KTB SHORT TERM...26 LONG TERM...26 AVIATION...TRM
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV 341 AM EDT MON SEP 8 2008 KYZ101>103-105-OHZ066-067-075-076-083>087-090745- GREENUP-CARTER-BOYD-LAWRENCE KY-PERRY-MORGAN-ATHENS-WASHINGTON- JACKSON OH-VINTON-MEIGS-GALLIA-LAWRENCE OH- 341 AM EDT MON SEP 8 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST KENTUCKY AND SOUTHEAST OHIO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. VAZ003-004-WVZ005>011-013>020-024>040-046-047-090745- DICKENSON-BUCHANAN-WAYNE-CABELL-MASON-JACKSON WV-WOOD-PLEASANTS- TYLER-LINCOLN-PUTNAM-KANAWHA-ROANE-WIRT-CALHOUN-RITCHIE-DODDRIDGE- MINGO-LOGAN-BOONE-CLAY-BRAXTON-GILMER-LEWIS-HARRISON-TAYLOR-MCDOWELL- WYOMING-RALEIGH-FAYETTE-NICHOLAS-WEBSTER-UPSHUR-BARBOUR-POCAHONTAS- RANDOLPH- 341 AM EDT MON SEP 8 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA AND WEST VIRGINIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THUNDERSTORMS ASSOCIATED WITH A COLD FRONT TUESDAY COULD REACH SEVERE LIMITS. THE SEVERE STORMS PREDICTION CENTER HAS THIS AREA UNDER A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TUESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. 29 / TRM
The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 81 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 06:35 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Trees were knocked down around the small communities of Tams and Helen. Electrical power outages also occurred.
Trees were blown down across roads.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in West Virginia in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in West Virginia, September 2008
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: 129958, 129957.