A week of stormy weather: Severe weather possible this weekend: April 20-25, 2004

The following is a log of this week's active weather pattern, with the most recent events listed first.

Sunday, April 25:
CHARLESTON, WV - Thunderstorms affected most parts of the state from the early morning hours Sunday, through the day, and into the overnight hours on Monday. The Charleston area was one of the the first to see stormy weather on Sunday. Later in the day, storms developed along the I-79 corridor and moved across the higher terrain in the Canaan Valley region. The southeastern mountains near Lewisburg, Princeton and Rainelle saw storms develop next toward the evening hours. Finally, the last round of thunder and lightning moved up the Ohio River corridor from Huntington, Parkersburg and on to Morgantown after nightfall. Bands of showers and heavy rain continued statewide into Monday morning prior to the frontal passage.

While a severe weather risk had been outlined for our region on Sunday, no reports of hail or high winds in West Virginia were received.

Lightning over Interstate 64 in Kanawha City on Sunday morning:

A bright rainbow forms along the back of a shower in rural Greenbrier County on Sunday:

Friday, April 23:
CHARLESTON and PRINCETON, WV - Rain with a few embedded flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder moved across most of the state on Friday around noon. This latest batch of rain was actually a weakening complex of severe thunderstorms that affected Oklahoma and Arkansas in the previous days. Below: A car plows through partially flooded Leon Sullivan Way in Charleston, from Storm Highway video on The Weather Channel on Friday.

Later in the evening, a lone thunderstorm crossed the extreme southern counties of the state, affecting Princeton and Bluefield:

Tuesday, April 20:
A line of thunderstorms developed in southwestern West Virginia during the early afternoon hours on Tuesday, sweeping northeast across much of the state. Heavy rain and occasional lightning were the main threats from Tuesday's storms. Below: Ominous skies over downtown Charleston signal the arrival of thunderstorms on Tuesday afternoon.