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Meteorologists at the National Weather Service's Pittsburgh bureau are casting wary eyes toward the skies over the next few days, as heavy rains around several parts of the Ohio Valley could produce flooding -- especially since previous storms have already saturated the ground.
The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for much of the Ohio Valley, including Ohio, Marshall and Wetzel counties in West Virginia and Belmont, Harrison and Monroe counties in Ohio, until 8 a.m. Wednesday. The region already saw thunderstorms roll through most of Monday, and meteorologists believe rain will continue through Tuesday.
Matt Brudy, a meteorologist for the NWS' Pittsburgh bureau, said some spots in the area could see up to 5 inches "on a very localized basis."
"For the heaviest rain, we do think it’s going to be at this point in eastern Ohio, maybe nosing down into northern West Virginia," he said. "We expect rain to … develop overnight (Monday) and then another complex move through (Tuesday) afternoon."
Most of the region will see less than 2 inches of rain during the duration of the flood watch, according to the National Weather Service, but that could be enough to create flooding problems. The area had seen between 2 and 3 inches of rain in the previous 48 hours, Brudy said, so even the low end of the predictions could be dangerous.
"Given how saturated the ground is already, it’s not going to take a lot of rain to result in flooding," he said. "To determine how much rain we’d need to cause flash flooding, we have what we call flash flood guidance. And that’s how much rain we’d need in an hour to cause flash flooding or how much rain we’d need in three hours to cause flash flooding. Most of the area right now is under about an inch and a quarter right now at most to cause flash flooding.
"If we’d get a solid three-quarters of an inch to an inch in an hour, there’d be an impact," he said.
The NWS is predicting the area could see up to a half-inch of new rainfall through the day Tuesday and up to three-quarters of an inch of new rainfall Tuesday night, with an 80% chance of rain throughout Tuesday. The chances for rain drop, as do the predictions for new rainfall, later in the week.