A southward advancing boundary lined with storms moved out of the Ohio Valley, into the Appalachians. Some of the storms within this line produced damaging winds across southern West Virginia.
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 RNK wrote it up.
A southward advancing boundary lined with storms moved out of the Ohio Valley, into the Appalachians. Some of the storms within this line produced damaging winds across southern West Virginia.
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 Aug 25, 5:01 PM EST, 1 hour 25 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Blacksburg VA 601 PM EDT Tue Aug 25 2020 .SYNOPSIS... Scattered showers and thunderstorms will be in our forecast through the middle of the week as a cold front slowly approaches from the northwest. At the same time high pressure continues to strengthen over the southern Appalachians and off the southeast coast steering the leftover moisture from Tropical Storm Laura into the Mississippi River Valley Thursday with potential impacts to our weather for the upcoming weekend. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... As of 420 PM EDT Monday... Severe thunderstorm watch 451 covers areas along/north of U.S. 460 from Tazewell through Lynchburg-Appomattox and Buckingham. This runs til 11pm. Several models are favoring a complex of storms over northern WV/Southeast Ohio this afternoon to head southward by 7pm into our northern forecast area. Mesoanalysis indicated plenty of DCAPE and SBCAPE to support damaging wind threat, and possible hail. Most models are showing the better threat from the Alleghanys of VA into SE WV. Previous discussion from 3pm today... Models in good consensus with broad northwest 500MB flow over the Mid Atlantic region tonight and Wednesday. Rest of the afternoon and for the early part of the evening Convective Available Potential Energy in the 2000-3000 range along the southern Blue Ridge and northeast of a Lewisburg to Charlotte Court House line where shear in the environment will also be higher. Still expecting a bulk of the storms in that region to be from 21Z/5PM through 03Z/11PM. Storms along the southern Blue Ridge will be isolated more diurnally based and be mostly dissipated by 01Z/9PM. Heavy rain and isolated training of thunderstorms is still possible this afternoon and evening but coverage will be limited. Since winds are northwest through a deep layer models were showing signs of some downsloping and lower PoP/QPF on the eastern side of the Blue Ridge. Several of teh CAM have the thunderstorms developing over Ohio and Pennsylvania reaching southeast West Virginia around 00Z/8PM then tracking toward northeast Tennesse before dissipate late this evening. On Wednesday, slightly warmer temperatures aloft will lead to lower CAPES. Again appears areal coverage of storms will be isolated to scattered and confined to the afternoon and evening. At the surface a cold front from New England into the Great Lakes will move south and stall over the Ohio Valley and Mid Atlantic states on Wednesday. Will keep Low tonight mild, similar to the last few nights. Staying close to guidance for highs on Wednesday but with low dewpoint toward central Virginia on the north side of the front. && .SHORT TERM /WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY/... As of 245 PM EDT Tuesday... High pressure will remain nestled near/just to our south Wednesday into Thursday. Anticyclonic flow around this center will bring westerly flow to the region. The origin of this westerly flow will be from the Gulf, so a more humid and unstable airmass will stretch into our western frontier. Therefore, showers and thunderstorms that develop Thursday will primarily be focused along the western slopes, with lower coverage to the Blue Ridge as the Piedmont remains mostly dry. As we head toward Friday, an upper level trough starts to push the high southeastward, placing us into a more direct southwest flow. This will then put us in a more direct tap of a Gulf sourced airmass, meaning PWATs will increase, as well as our overall instability. By Friday afternoon with the added energy of diurnal heating, thunderstorm coverage should be pretty high with the greatest concentration along the western slopes and down into the Grayson Highlands. SW flow combined with terrain influence and high PWATs will pose an isolated flash flooding risk, especially if thunderstorms are able to train. Temperatures will be ranging slightly above average for both highs and lows. && .LONG TERM /FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY/... As of 245 PM EDT Tuesday... The big story of this forecast period will be the remnants of Laura, which are expected to enter the Mid-Atlantic sometime Friday evening into Saturday, before making an exit between Saturday afternoon and early Sunday morning. The system will be riding the outer edge of a high that will be impacting our forecast through the week before also interacting with an inbound trough that will be dipping out of the north. Together, these two synoptic systems are what will bring Laura's remnants to our area. Because of the time it will take for Laura to get here, it will have time to significantly rain itself out before arriving. Regardeless of how much Laura rains itself out before arriving, saturated conditions left over from storms Friday may work together to overall increase the flash flooding risk, especially down toward the Grayson Highlands and in the far west. Greatest amounts will be in the west and range between 2 and 3 inches. The farther east you go, the overall total will be less. That said, local influences can drive amounts greater than the general forecast. Along with the flooding threat will be a severe threat thanks to the contributed shear from Laura. Any potential boundaries left over from Friday could serve as a base to get lift and spin for storms. At this time, it seems that any better coverage in severe threat will remain to our north. Finally, overall strong low-mid level winds from Laura will pose a wind threat during the day Saturday, as heavy rainfall may be able to drag these winds to the surface and bring trees down more easily from pre-saturated soil conditions. Keep in mid that the forecast during this time is very possible to change as even slight shift in Luara's track, even after landfall, can have big changes in the overall forecast for here, so keep posted for updates. Once Laura is gone and the front presses though, Sunday turns much drier, both precipitation and airmass wise. Likewise, temperatures turn cooler for a remainder of the weekend and into next week. The next main system we will watch for will be a slow moving front that arrives Tuesday into Wendesday that will bring our rain chances back up. Forecast confidence for this part of the forecast is moderate to high. && .AVIATION /22Z TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/... As of 555 PM EDT Tuesday... Will be watching organized convection dropping southward across WV/northern VA this evening. Models are showing this convection weakening after 00z, not really making it to ROA/LYH/BCB, but looks to impact LWB with a period of moderate to heavy showers/storms in the 00z-02z time frame, with sub-VFR conditions likely. Will keep VCTS at BLF and amend if it looks like storms will move across BLF. Same goes for further east. Confidence is low at the moment on this scenario, as sometimes models under forecast convection and there is sufficient instability, however airmass is a little on the dry side per 18z sounding. Looks like any convection will be gone by 03-04z, and will see fog potential overnight as skies clear. Will have LIFR at LWB, and tempo IFR at BCB/BLF, perhaps MVFR at LYH/DAN but confidence is lower here. After morning for dissipates on Wednesday, the rest of the day will be VFR with isolated afternoon thunderstorms, mainly west of the Blue Ridge. Confidence is high after 14z Wednesday for VFR. Extended Aviation Discussion... At this time Tropical Storms Laura tracks around the upper high over the Southeast U.S. and initially should not be a concern for our region through Thursday. Will likely see a few afternoon/evening storms Thu-Fri but coverage will be lacking for now, with moisture from Laura not arriving til Friday night through Sat night. During this time expect periods of sub-VFR. Conditions should improve by Sunday behind the tropical system. A front will be working its way toward the area with more showers and thunderstorms and another period of sub-VFR conditions Monday. && .RNK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... VA...None. NC...None. WV...None. && SYNOPSIS...AMS NEAR TERM...AMS/WP SHORT TERM...RR LONG TERM...RR AVIATION...AMS/RAB/WP
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Blacksburg VA 423 PM EDT Tue Aug 25 2020 NCZ001>006-018>020-VAZ009-012-015>017-032-033-043-044-058-059-262030- Ashe-Alleghany NC-Surry-Stokes-Rockingham-Caswell-Watauga-Wilkes- Yadkin-Smyth-Wythe-Grayson-Carroll-Floyd-Patrick-Franklin-Henry- Pittsylvania-Halifax-Charlotte- 423 PM EDT Tue Aug 25 2020 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for north central North Carolina, northwest North Carolina, south central Virginia, southwest Virginia and west central Virginia. .DAY ONE...Tonight. Isolated to scattered thunderstorms are expected this evening The main concern with these thunderstorms will be locally heavy rainfall and localized flooding or flash flooding. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday. The remnants of tropical cyclone Laura will track into the region this weekend. A threat flooding or flash flooding is possible, along with possible severe weather, in the form of damaging winds and isolated tornadoes. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not expected at this time. VAZ007-010-011-013-014-018>020-022>024-034-035-045>047-WVZ042>044- 507-508-262030- Tazewell-Bland-Giles-Pulaski-Montgomery-Craig-Alleghany VA-Bath- Roanoke-Botetourt-Rockbridge-Bedford-Amherst-Campbell-Appomattox- Buckingham-Mercer-Summers-Monroe-Eastern Greenbrier- Western Greenbrier- 423 PM EDT Tue Aug 25 2020 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 451 IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 PM EDT THIS EVENING... This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for central Virginia, south central Virginia, southwest Virginia, west central Virginia and southeast West Virginia. .DAY ONE...Tonight. Please listen to NOAA Weather Radio or go to weather.gov on the Internet for more information about the following hazards. Severe Thunderstorm Watch. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday. The remnants of tropical cyclone Laura will track into the region this weekend. A threat flooding or flash flooding is possible, along with possible severe weather, in the form of damaging winds and isolated tornadoes. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotters are asked to submit severe weather reports.
The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 91 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:24 UTC.
3 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Damaging winds associated with a line of severe storms knocked a tree down on Simms Mountain Road, near the intersection of Route 20.
Damaging winds associated with a line of severe storms knocked a tree down near the intersection of Kieffer Road and Deitz Road.
Damaging winds associated with a line of severe storms knocked a tree down on Spring Creek Station Road.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in West Virginia in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in West Virginia, August 2020
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: 914003, 914006, 914009.