As the warmest year on record draws to a close, the month of December has been far from a winter wonderland in the West Virginia capital.
Charleston is on track for its warmest December to date, with an average temperature of 49.6 degrees for the month, according to the National Weather Service. The previous record, set in 1918, was a full two degrees cooler, at 47.4 degrees.
"Charleston is on pace to set the record for warmest December on record; we're currently 12 degrees above average for the month, and 2.2 degrees above the former record," said Mike Charnick, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston.
"It isn't official yet . . . it is going to drop a bit, because we're expecting a slightly cooler day today," he said, "but as of right now, we will stay safely above the former record, whether it's 2 degrees above or a little lower."
Huntington likely will fall just short of a new record - its current average is 48.5 degrees, compared to 48.6 degrees in 1931.
Warm temperatures and heavy rainfall led to flooding and caused rock- and mud-slides throughout Kanawha County and surrounding areas last week. A record 1.97 inches of rain fell in the area on Christmas Day, according to the weather service, and Kanawha first responders received roughly 100 reports of high water, performing more than 30 water rescues, including at least a dozen people from their homes on Lotus Drive, in Sissonville.
According to Charnick, those levels of rainfall should be over, at least for the next week, but he added that ranging temperatures could cause more problems as it gets colder.
"Fortunately, at least for the next week or so, we're going into a pretty dry weather pattern through the beginning of January, so we should see the ground dry out a little bit," he said. "We do need to watch out, because we've had so much rain. The chance for flooding is greater if we have another rain event. Obviously, if we get any snowfall, and see it melt, if we get another rain event, that's how we get problems with flooding as we head later into winter."
The unseasonable temperatures have cut into the state's winter recreation time, forcing all but one ski resort to suspend operations until temperatures drop. Canaan Valley and Winterplace resorts closed their slopes over a lack of snow on Friday, while Snowshoe Mountain Resort followed suit at the end of the day Sunday. Canaan Valley has said it will remain closed through Jan. 5, and Snowshoe will reopen Jan. 2.
In November, the World Meteorological Organization declared that 2015 likely would be the warmest year on record, rounding out the warmest five-year period since recording temperatures became common practice 135 years ago.
According to the WMO, the rise in global temperatures is a result of El Niño and human-influenced climate change and can contribute to severe weather patterns, including heavy rainfall and drought.
Reach Lydia Nuzum at lydia.nuzum@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5189 or follow @lydianuzum on Twitter.