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If you just showed me this radar image and gave me no other information, I would presume the inset radar grab at mid-evening showed a tropical storm or weak hurricane closing on the coast of the Carolinas. But the coastal storm remains an extratropical low, embedded along a cold front, and the National Hurricane Center now gives this system a low chance of becoming tropical before its circulation center makes landfall overnight. As we've said before, it's academic at this point. The coast is being hit by wind and waves, with some coastal flooding in the Outer Banks and power outages in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. Not a big hit, but troublesome.

Rain began moving into Southwest Virginia shortly before dark, and off and on rain will continue as various bands move west from the spinning center. So far, the winds have not been excessive, though I'm sure someone on a mountaintop has got a few stout puffs. Our heaviest rain is likely to come Friday as the storm moves ashore and moves north into North Carolina, putting us in a vein of moisture being pulled north and west from the center. The Hydrometeorological Prediction Center is showing rainfall amounts over the next 3 days of 1.5 to 2 inches common in our area, with some locally heavier amounts. Rain will gradually taper to showers overnight Friday into Saturday, and should be almost entirely over by Sunday. Yes, it is moving a bit slower than earlier forecast, so Saturday could be wetter than earlier expected.

Latest National Weather Service-Blacksburg radar