The Historic 2016 Late June Flooding Event in West Virginia

 June 22-23 Time Synchronized Local/Regional Radar Loops

June 22-23 Regional Radar Loop Radar loop courtesy of Iowa Environmental Mesonet (IEM)	June 22-23 Local Radar Loop             (w/ Warnings Overlaid) Radar loop courtesy of Iowa Environmental Mesonet (IEM)

June 22-23 Satellite Loops

June 23rd Visible Loop                 Satellite loop courtesy of University Corporation                   for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)	June 22-24 Infrared Satellite Loop                        Satellite loop courtesy of University Corporation                         for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)

Overview

Hydrographs are a time series line graph of water level at a specific location. All of the hydrographs below show the crest of their respective rivers from June 20th to June 30th. Four gauges reached major flooding stage, two along the Elk River, one on the Gauley River, and one on the Williams River. Three sites set record crests as a result of the event: Gauley River near Craigsville, Williams River at Dyer, and Birch River at Herold (although it only reached its moderate flood stage). The New River at Thurmond reached its minor flood stage, and the Greenbrier River at Buckeye reached its action stage. Although the other rivers did not reach flood stages, significant rises were observed all across the state. Prior to the peak crest, a much smaller crest was observed on the Gauley, New, and Kanawha Rivers. This smaller crest occurred from the initial flash flooding event, followed by excessive runoff into the main stem rivers, resulting in the peak crest approximately 24 hours later. Incredibly, the Elk River rose over 28 feet from this event at both Clay and Queen Shoals. All hydrographs are courtesy of the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

*Major Flood Stage Reached* Rise of ~28 ft.	*Major Flood Stage Reached* Rise of ~28 ft.	*Major Flood Stage Reached* ** Record Crest of 29.04 ft.**

*Major Flood Stage Reached* ** Record Crest of 20.78 ft.**	*Moderate Flood Stage Reached* ** Record Crest of 18.03 ft.**	*Minor Flood Stage Reached* Rise of ~14 ft.

*Action Stage Reached* Rise of ~11 ft.	Rise of ~17 ft. No Flood Stages Reached	Rise of ~15 ft. No Flood Stages Reached

Rise of ~3 ft. No Flood Stages Reached	Rise of ~ 11ft.  No Flood Stages Reached	Rise of ~ 3ft. No Flood Stages Reached	Rise of ~18 ft.     ** No Flood Stages Available         for this Location **

Record Crests Set June 23, 2016

Local Storm Reports

   Map Courtesy of ESRI

Rainfall Reports From Across The Forecast Area

June 22-23 Environmental Breakdown

300 millibar analysis shows an upper level low pressure center over Quebec. It remains mostly stationary over the course of the 23rd, providing the strong jet stream over the Great Lakes Region. West Virginia lies just outside of the flow, resulting in shortwave troughs and diffluent flow to cause upper level divergence over the area throughout the day.

The 850 millibar moisture transport is a measure of the horizontal movement of moisture. Values shaded in pink/red colors are receiving an abundance of moisture from the low level jet stream. As seen by the direction of the wind barbs, the moisture is originating from the Gulf of Mexico. However, there is a large buildup of the horizontal movement of moisture behind the frontal passage. As the winds shift when the fronts begin to move into the forecast area, the moisture comes with it, further destabilizing the atmosphere and promoting widespread heavy rainfall.

Precipitable Water (PWAT) values are the measure of the depth of liquid water at the surface that would result after precipitating all of the water vapor in a vertical column over a given location. In this loop, that column extends from the surface to 400 millibars above it (~14,000 ft.). During the flooding event, values of 2+ inches of precipitable water is observed over parts of West Virginia, however, the entire region consistently stays over 1.5 inches for an extended period of time throughout the day.

Surface frontal analysis shows a low pressure system propagating eastward through IL, IN, and OH. The pressure center remains just south of the Great Lakes, and the frontal passage continues to produce outflow boundaries that pass through West Virginia throughout the day which enhanced convection and provided rounds of heavy precipitation on the 23rd. At 2 PM, the front transitions to stationary which further prolongs the effects of the frontal passage. The stationary front is finally moved out by a cooler and drier air mass a little after 11 PM on the 24th.

June 23 Soundings (Courtesy of NWS Blacksburg, VA)

23rd at 1200 UTC (8 AM)	23rd at 1800 UTC (2 PM)	24th at 0000 UTC (8 PM)

Special thanks to Luke Ferguson for creating this webpage during his 2023 Summer Student Volunteership.