Experimental Results and Joint Testbed Collaboration of the West Virginia Flood Event of June 23-24, 2016

The catastrophic .1% annual chance flood event that resulted in 23 deaths and devastating damage to more than 15 counties in West Virginia occurred during the first week of both the NWS/WPC Hydrometeorology Testbed’s annual Flash Flood and Intense Rainfall (FFaIR) Experiment in College Park, MD and the Hydrometeorolgy Testbed Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor Hydro (HMT-Hydro) Experiment in Norman, OK.  Both experiments utilized experimental atmospheric and hydrologic model data, tools, and techniques to issue experimental probabilistic flash flooding forecasts, watches, and warnings in collaborative succession that mimicked the operational environments of both a National Center and a Weather Forecast Office.

This presentation will step through the synoptic meteorology and hydrology that set the stage for the West Virginia flood, then reveal the pipeline of experimental guidance, tools, forecasts, product dissemination/collaboration, and experimental flash flood watches and warnings issued for this event.  Verification, evaluation, and lessons learned about the experimental data and process specific to the West Virginia flood event will be presented to demonstrate the success of the combined hydro-testbed efforts aiming to improve the prediction, collaboration, and public preparation of extreme flash flooding events.