Despite recent storm system, Clarksburg, West Virginia, still below average in rainfall for this time of year

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WV News) — Over the course of the past few days, North Central West Virginia has been getting battered by heavy rainfall.
“It looks like the heaviest rainfall is behind us,” said Tom Mazza, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in Charleston. “Over the course of the previous storm system that came through, North Central West Virginia got anywhere from a quarter of an inch to a half an inch of rain.”
However, Clarksburg is still below average in rainfall for this time of the year, Mazza said.
“This can be attested to the dry days there were in between the days of heavy precipitation,” he said. “As of Tuesday, Clarksburg was 0.25 inches below the average precipitation rate. However, according to the projections for the rest of the year, Clarksburg could be 0.25 inches above average to nearly 1 inch above.”
On Wednesday, Harrison County saw a few motor vehicle accidents attributed to standing water on roadways, said Chief Deputy R.G. Waybright.
“There have been some hydroplaning issues throughout the course of the day,” he said. “When I talked with the shift commander today, he didn’t see any water running across any of the major roadways.”
Communication between first responders is key when dealing with heavy rainfall, Waybright said.
“Whenever we get these heavy rainfalls, we work closely with the local fire departments,” he said. “The main thing we do is assist them in closing down roadways if we know it’s not safe for people to be driving on them. We do this to help avoid any accidents from occurring.”
Tom Kines, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, said the southern part of West Virginia has been hit harder.
“But some of these systems have come from the northwest. These storm systems do pick up some rain but not as much. That is why we have been getting some of this colder weather with little precipitation.”