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The storm that formed over Vinton and eastern Roanoke County on Wednesday was fairly impressive. It appeared to develop a rounded base and some lowerings for a short time, as this photo I took looking north from Buck Mountain Road in south Roanoke County shows (lowered cloud bases are hanging over the ridgeline). There may have been some weak rotation in the storm for a time, and I have got at least one report of wind gusts that would have been near severe level (58 mph and higher). The storm spread westward and southwestward dumping heavy rain on much of the Roanoke Valley, with a flash flood warning posted for Roanoke city for a time. While the Roanoke Regional Airport only received .33 inch of rain, a couple of automatic gauges in eastern parts of the Roanoke Valley quickly gathered rainfall near or over an inch. I was out in some of that, with water ponding on the roads along Franklin Road and into downtown. Other parts of Southwest Virginia, from the New River Valley west and south, also saw some locally heavy downpours on Wednesday.

With east and northeast winds pushing low level moisture against the mountains today -- a "wedge" effect -- we're likely to stay too cloudy and cool (low 70s for highs, at best in Roanoke) for much in the way of big storms today. Scattered light showers and some patches of drizzle will be more the mode today. If skies clear tonight, it could be rather chilly with an air mass pushed in from the northeast, as lows in the upper 40s to mid 50s would be widespread.