Does it snow in November? (Charleston, Morgantown: 2009, home, to buy)

[gordan4vr]

My wife and I are planning to take a trip up to WV during Thanksgiving week. We're from Florida so, of course, have no snow here, so my wife is a little concerned about the possibility of it snowing during that time and having to drive in it for the first time. Should we expect snow in November? Our trip will take us from Bluefield up to Westin, back down to Charleston, and everywhere in between! If anyone could give us an idea of what we might expect, would appreciate it. Thanks!

[AliceT]

Originally Posted by gordan4vr

My wife and I are planning to take a trip up to WV during Thanksgiving week. We're from Florida so, of course, have no snow here, so my wife is a little concerned about the possibility of it snowing during that time and having to drive in it for the first time. Should we expect snow in November?

Snow during the Thanksgiving holiday is certainly possible, but main roads and interstates are kept very clear and secondary roads are also clear. Most residential streets and avenues are cleared in very short order. No matter what else you've heard about WV, the Department of Transportation is on top of it when it comes to snow removal and public safety. The plows even clear my little mountain hollow roadway! Ya might want to buy some cold weather clothing though.

[Ceezer]

I'm heading home for Thanksgiving, too, so... I SURE HOPE SO! I'm sorry for your concerns, but I miss the snow. I miss the changing of the seasons. It's hard to get into the holiday spirit when it's 80 out on Christmas day...

But yes, there's a great possibility for snow around Thanksgiving.

[snorpus]

One of the biggest, all-time snows in West Virginia occurred Thanksgiving weekend, in 1950.

But generally speaking, unless you go to the Potomac Highlands (Blackwater, Elkins, Marlinton, Snowshoe) region, you probably will see only flurries, up to an inch or two.

[Hinton Bound]

Here's what the Farmer Almanac has for the area 2009 Ohio Valley Long-Range Weather Forecast and Prediction - The Old Farmer's Almanac .

~Mark

[vec101]

Lots of good info at Station Selection

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ says the probability of snow on Thanksgiving Nov 27 is :

0.1" 1" 2" 5" 10"

Bluefield Mercer Co. 2% 2% 2% 0%
Beckley Raleigh Co 7% 4% 0% 0%
Weston Lewis Co: 11% 3% 1% 1% 0%
Charleston Kanawha Co: 7% 6% 1% 0%

Got to say those figures surprise me - I believe Beckley is at a higher elevation so would have thought it was greater for Beckley than Weston. However on second glance, the Weston/Morgantown/etc area probably does get more of the Northern effect. When at Canaan, we often notice a difference of how the mountains deflect weather fronts from either the North (Northernish - NorthWest perhaps I guess) or the South (South East).

[vec101]

You may want to check the days surrounding Nov 27.
Out of curiosity checked Canaan - the % changed from day to day

Canaan Daily Probabilities of SF
27th 14 12 12 0
28th 26 22 18 3
29th 33 31 27 6

[gordan4vr]

Thanks to everyone who responded! The information you gave us was great and, hopefully, will ease my wife's fears a bit, especially reading that the interstates and main roads are kept clear. She wants to move to WV when we finally retire in a few years, and she does expect (and wants) to see snow...just not too much on our first time driving in it! :> The good thing is that our itinerary is flexible, so if it should snow too much in one area, we can always skip that particular city and check it out on another trip.

This is what we call our "fact finding" trip, because we are still trying to narrow down exactly where it is we want to retire to. We fell in love with WV last year when we drove through it on our way to check out Kentucky; but the State Income Tax concerns us a little because we're not sure we'll be able to afford living there if taxes are too high. But, that's a whole different topic I'll save for another time!

Thanks again to each of you for your helpful information! We really, really appreciate it.

[GottaHerdOn]

I have never in my life heard of someone who couldn't afford to live in WV? ha ha Even with our bogus income taxes, etc the cost of living makes up for that two fold

[Hinton Bound]

Originally Posted by gordan4vr

We fell in love with WV last year when we drove through it on our way to check out Kentucky;

That's too coincidental not to comment on! My wife and I were driving through WV, enroute to Morehead, KY when we had the V8 *Whack!*. We bought a place on Brooks mountain in Summers County. Couldn't be happier.