WHEELING, W.Va. (WTRF) — The short-term answer to the question is no. There will not be major impacts from Hurricane Ian in West Virginia.
What we do know:
Hurricane Ian is expected to make landfall on the Gulf side of Florida as a major hurricane as a category 3 or 4, sometime Wednesday afternoon or evening. Rain totals will likely range from 4″ – 16″ along with life-threatening storm surges. The hurricane is expected to make landfall around Naples or Sarasota FL.
What happens after landfall?
Once the hurricane moves over land, it will lose energy and start to fizzle out. However, it will still bring heavy rains into the Southeast and along the Blue Ridge Mountains.
From there, we could see some remnants of the hurricane locally, late in the weekend or into early next week. Most of the heavy rain will likely stay well south and east of our immediate area, but we could see a few light rain showers and cloud cover from the storm itself.
It is still way too far out to determine rain totals for our region, but the trend will of course be monitored.
Can the forecast change?
Absolutely. The atmosphere moves like a fluid and is constantly changing directions, speeds, and flow. This will be a situation that will continue to unfold over the next couple of days. The good news, for the time being, is that the event will be impactful for our region.
