National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Areas of Severe Thunderstorms, Excessive Rainfall, and Extreme Heat Wednesday

In the Upper Midwest, heavy to excessive rain may bring flash and urban flooding through Wednesday. Scattered severe thunderstorms capable of large hail and damaging wind gusts are possible from the central High Plains into the Upper Midwest Wednesday. Extreme heat is ongoing over the Desert Southwest through Thursday. Read More >

During the early morning hours of December 21st, a train derailed on the bridge over the Potomac River near "The Point" in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.  Among other damage, the train derailment destroyed the National Weather Service stream gauge, which was housed on this bridge.

For additional information from the National Park Service, visit this link.

Stream gauge observations will generally not be available at Harpers Ferry, until further notice.  Some manual observations may be taken, if staffing allows, during high water / flood events.  At this time, it is unclear when -- or if -- the gauge will be able to be reinstalled at this location.  We do intend to continue to provide river forecasts at Harpers Ferry, as long as doing so remains feasible.

We will provide updates on the status of the observational gauge when we have them.