Early morning winter thunderstorms: February 4, 2008
ABOVE: Lightning hits a mountain ridge over Belle, WV Monday morning.
EXPEDITION VIDEO: Lightning and thunder in Belle, WV on Monday morning: Watch Video
BELLE, WV - While it's rare for lightning to happen in the winter in West Virginia, it's not really that unusual. I've seen lightning at least once every winter for the past several years. What I did find unusual this morning was the strength and frequency of the lightning, which was mostly of the intense cloud-to-ground variety that rivaled some spring and summer storms. I was awakened by a small storm around 5AM, at which time I checked radar to find more on the way. I drove east a little out of Charleston to catch the heaviest activity moving through the Belle-Dickinson-Chelyan area.
