Likely microburst hits Tornado, W.Va.; more storms expected into the weekend

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS, WVAH) — A brief but intense storm moved over Tornado, W.Va. Thursday afternoon just after 6 p.m., causing many residents to wonder if a tornado had hit.

Likely not. Radar signature didn't show much twisting of the wind aloft but it did suggest a quick burst of wind making it from the thunderstorm cloud to the ground. Mature thunderstorms consist of updrafts (rising air) into storms that sustain them and downdrafts (sinking air that spreads out as gusty winds). In the case of a microburst, it's a particularly strong downdraft resulting in a straight-line wind. Torrential rain with that storm is likely what helped bring that wind down, or something meteorologists refer to as a "wet microburst." The rain intensity slackened as it lifted north over I-64 and wind speeds were considerably less once it reached St. Albans and Cross Lanes.

It was extremely localized but downed dozens if not hundreds of trees around the Big Bend golf course and damaged some homes. The National Weather Service will likely go out Friday to assess the damage and make an estimate on wind speeds.

Storms are still moving through West Virginia late Thursday but will fade overnight, although some more showers may develop near dawn especially north of I-64. Those will move out and some sun will break out Friday morning, much like it did Thursday.

Like Thursday, another jetstream disturbance will move in for the afternoon and result in an increase in storms once again. The concern is that this disturbance is stronger and has more wind energy to work with, so the threat for severe weather appears more widespread than Thursday (although that doesn't mean another microburst will occur).

Storms should also develop earlier in the afternoon than they did Thursday, although that means they may taper off earlier in the evening which would be good for folks starting their weekend Friday night.

Our rain chances will continue this weekend although there will be some dry time, namely Saturday morning/early afternoon. The next wave arrives by the end of the day and with it will come a widespread area of rain that will increase from west to east toward dinnertime and into Saturday night. That rain will likely fall heavily into Sunday morning before gradually tapering down in the afternoon and after a couple days of passing downpours the threat for localized flooding will be enhanced for Derby night and Cinco De Mayo morning.

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