National Weather Service sheds light on heavy rainfalls that have battered the Morgantown area
MORGANTOWN — Over the course of the summer, areas in and around Morgantown have been battered with heavy rainfall which has resulted in flooding on several different occasions in the past three months.
The main reasoning behind the heavy rainfalls and the flooding is due to slow-moving storms in the area, according to Shannon Hefferan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh.
“Three plus inches of rain per hour is considered pretty high, especially for urban communities that have a lot of concrete in the area,” Hefferan said. “Those are what we’ve been seeing for areas like Morgantown, Fairmont and Wheeling.”
Hefferan noted the storm that hit Westover which provided two inches of rain in two hours was one of these slow-moving storms.
However, urban areas see less flash flood warnings, Hefferan said.
“Flash flood guidance is a little bit lower for areas like Pittsburgh and Morgantown, because an inch an hour is going to have some isolated flooding concerns,” she said. “If you go to the more rural communities, where there isn’t as much concrete, you’ll see more flash flood warnings.”
The reason for how much rain the Morgantown area has seen this summer is due to the high heat of the summer, Hefferan said.
“We had a very warm summer (and) the atmosphere can hold more water,” she said. “So you can have those higher precipitation rates. In August, we have had a lot of rain. It depends on the pattern, but it also depends on how warm it gets.”
Hefferan added these different storms have been coming in from any direction.
The slow-moving storms also stem from what are called stationary boundaries, Hefferan said.
“When we see a lot of flooding, it can sometimes stem from a stationary boundary that doesn’t move very fast,” she said. “You need some sort of lifting mechanism, like a front to create an outflow boundary. Sometimes these can lead to thunderstorms colliding and it can create a new thunderstorm.”
Hefferan added, when these storms collide, they can sit still and continue to rain even more.
