West Virginia, 2018

Heavy Snow in West Virginia, March 12, 2018

March 12, 2018 · NWS RNK · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

S. east coast.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 4 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
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
4

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 RNK wrote it up.

An area of low pressure tracked northeast along the U.S. east coast. Ample moisture wrapped westward around this low where it encountered temperatures cold enough at all levels of the atmosphere to produce widespread snowfall. Storm total snowfall amounts averaged five to seven inches across most of southeast West Virginia with some isolated eight inch amounts.

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 Blacksburg, VA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 12, 12:52 AM EST, 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 12, 12:52 AM EST, 8 minutes before
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Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 11, 2:58 PM EST, 10 hours 2 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

4 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Mercer

When
March 12, 1:00 AM EST to 12:30 PM EST
Where
Mercer forecast zone
Reported by
Public
Coordinates
37.406, -81.111 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Snowfall totals across the country include 4.5 inches at Princeton, 5.0 inches at Athens, 5.5 inches two miles east-southeast of Bluefield, and 8.0 inches at Lerona.

Heavy Snow, Summers

When
March 12, 1:00 AM EST to 12:30 PM EST
Where
Summers forecast zone
Reported by
Trained Spotter
Coordinates
37.656, -80.859 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Snowfall totals across the country include 7 inches one mile east of Pipestem.

Heavy Snow, Eastern Greenbrier

When
March 12, 1:00 AM EST to 1:30 PM EST
Where
Eastern Greenbrier forecast zone
Reported by
Trained Spotter
Coordinates
37.947, -80.453 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Snowfall totals across the eastern part of the county include 4.0 inches five miles west-southwest at Ronceverte, 5.0 inches at Lewisburg, Rupert, Maxelton, and four miles north of Alvon, and 5.5 inches two miles northwest of Lewisburg.

Heavy Snow, Western Greenbrier

When
March 12, 1:00 AM EST to 3:00 PM EST
Where
Western Greenbrier forecast zone
Reported by
Trained Spotter
Coordinates
37.947, -80.453 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Snowfall totals across the western part of the county include 5.5 inches two miles south-southwest of Meadow Bluff, 6.0 inches four miles east of Williamsburg, at Rainelle, and one mile south-southwest of Meadow Bluff, 7.0 inches three miles north of Rupert, and 7.5 inches at Renick.

What these are

Heavy Snow
Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in West Virginia in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in West Virginia, March 2018

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: 747432, 747433, 747435, 747740.