2009.04.25
Roanoke's first 90-degree April day in 7 years
Roanoke's official high this afternoon was 91 degrees, making this the first 90-degree day in the Star City since April 16, 2002. Lynchburg and Danville also each hit 91 degrees. None of the three sites set records, however, which are in the mid 90s.
The automated weather station at Martinsville was reporting temperatures as high as 97 degrees this afternoon.
The National Weather Service is reporting that Blacksburg has set a record high of 86, topping the previous record for April 25 of 84 set in 1960. This report is somewhat different than the Southeast Regional Climate Center, which lists 88 in 1957 as the record for the date in Blacksburg. I'll see if I can get a clarification on that.
The heat was enough to kick up a few showers and thunderstorms, as moisture in the middle layers and cooler air aloft combined with the surface heating. Sunday is likely to be very similar, both in terms of heat and scattered short-lived afternoon showers and storms.
RSS feed 
I haven't heard back from the weather service on Blacksburg's record yet, but the climate database from Utah State University that we have based the Roanoke Times Datasphere data on would indicate that the high on April 25, 1957, in Blackburg was 88, which would mean that today's high of 86 would not be a record.
Datasphere weather records link:
http://www.roanoke.com/data/viewdata.aspx?wdid=12&cid=12
Also of note ... it is possible that the power outage linked below may be related to gusty winds that blew across Roanoke about 5 p.m. as cumulonimbus clouds (better known as thunderheads) collapsed over the city, causing a burst of wind, sprinkles and dust in the downtown area.
http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/202428
Comment by Kevin Myatt — April 25, 2009 @ 9:51 pm
Just got word from the weather service that the April 25-30 highs for Blacksburg in 1957 were flagged by the National Climatic Data Center as being supsiciously high when compared to surrounding sites ... as a result, those records were scratched in the NCDC database as well as the NWS-Blacksburg records, though they remain in the Southeast Regional Climatic Center database ... therefore, with the 88 in 1957 jettisoned, Blacksburg's high of 86 on Saturday officially stands as a record for April 25, topping the 84 recorded in 1960.
Comment by Kevin Myatt — April 25, 2009 @ 11:39 pm