www.roanoke.com

Give a weather geek a little free time, and he's going to end up where it's the most extreme. When it comes to upslope snow events in the National Weather Service-Blacksburg's warning area, that would almost always be Quinwood, W.Va., in western Greenbrier County. I headed that way, arriving on some slushy/snowy highways at about 2 p.m. When I got there, a heavy snow squall was ongoing, with about 1/8 mile visibility in wind-whipped, large conglomerated snowflakes. I have been there a few times before, since I know about a town park that has a nice hiking trail. But the roads were a little too dicey this time, and I didn't try to get to the park. I parked near the post office and walked around the town a bit, eventually reaching the small hiking trail for a short walk with my dog, Cindy. My dog is a knee-high brown mutt, but she was up to her neck at times in the snow, which was reported at 14 inches about an hour after I was there (by 7 p.m., it went up to 17 inches).  The snow whipped around for a while as I sank up over my boots (should have brought my snowshoes ... I would have if I had had time for longer hike) and Cindy more or less swam in the fluffy snow (with the long retractable leash as sort of a lifeline ... or a means of pulling me into hip-deep snow in a ditch once). But almost like a switch had been flipped, this particular snow squall passed and the sun actually poked out. The half-inch or so that had accumulated in a few minutes turned slushy and wet on the asphalt, giving me a good chance to slip out before the next snow squall slickened things up again.

Click below for some larger photos from Quinwood:

* Post office;
* dog in the snow;
* dog's path through the snow;
* snowplow;
* snow on trees;
* drifts at stop sign

On the drive up, I encountered flurries throughout much of Botetourt and Alleghany counties, then hit heavier snow showers just west of Covington. The snow broke off and the sun came out around White Sulphur Springs and Lewisburg, W.Va., but then I hit a wall of snow as I drove west and then northwest into western Greenbrier County. A fascinating afternoon with a particularly early and significant upslope snowfall event, enhanced by some upper-atmospheric energy and even some instability.

Below are a few snowfall amounts around the area as reported to the National Weather Service in Blacksburg today. Keep in mind that these reports were at different times through the day, and due to the spotty and streaky nature of the snow, amounts often varied within just a few miles. 

* Quinwood, W.Va.,  14 inches
* Tazewell,  5 inches
* Alum Ridge, 3 inches
* Dublin,  2.5 inches
* Wytheville, 2 inches
* Radford, 2 inches
* Mountain Lake, 2 inches
* Hot Springs, 2 inches
* Fairlawn, 1.5 inches
* Blacksburg, 1 inch
* Peaks of Otter, 1 inch
* Paint Bank, 1 inch
* Roanoke   0.4 inch

A complete listing can be found by clicking here

The cold front that pushed through Southwest Virginia today, and has left blustery northwest winds in its wake, slammed into more moist, unstable air to our southeast earlier today. With strong wind dynamics aloft creating spin, the result was a series of rotating thunderstorms that produced several reports of tornadoes from northern South Carolina into central and eastern North Carolina. At least two people have been killed in North Carolina southeast of Raleigh. (Photo at left, from the Associated Press, shows damage at Kenly, N.C.) Several tornado watches remain in effect along the East Coast from Massachusetts to the Carolinas this evening as the cold front continues to press eastward.

Meanwhile, southern California continues to be blasted by strong Santa Ana winds that are fanning enormous wildfires that have already scorched hundreds of houses and forced thousands from their homes.  (The photo at left, from the Associated Press, shows an intense wildfire in northern Los Angeles) The two violent weather episodes are linked by a large high pressure system over the central U.S. that, at once, because of its clockwise rotation, is forcing viciously dry and hot easterly winds into southern California and chilly northwest winds into the East. So, yes, the California wildfires, the North Carolina tornadoes and the start of a cold, windy, possibly snowflake-dotted week of weather in Southwest Virginia are all linked together.

Here are a few links to many photos taken by Texas-based media during and after Hurricane Ike, following its landfall on the Texas coast at Galveston early this morning. Ike is now a gradually diminishing tropical storm over eastern Texas, expected to spread a flooding and tornado threat through the lower and middle Mississippi River Valley over the next 1 to 2 days.

Houston Chronicle

KHOU-TV, Houston

Austin American-Statesman

Dallas Morning News

For the latest information and photos from Hurricane Ike's aftermath, click here for the Associated Press.

Rain Yancey's rainbow

Senior editor Dwayne Yancey is the one who has interviewed me by phone during each of the last two May storm chase trips, meticulously putting together photos into slideshow packages this past May. Despite numerous other duties, he put a lot of time and energy into making our storm chase packages what they are. Well, this weekend, we have reversed roles. Dwayne and his family are the storm chasers of sorts, catching up to some of the outer bands of Tropical Storm Cristobal on a Myrtle Beach vacation, while I am back in Roanoke posting the images his teen-aged kids have taken along the coast.

Cristobal's feeder bands over harbor. Courtesy of Keith Yancey

The inset photo above was taken by Dwayne's daughter Rain Yancey (that's a Weather Journal-worthy name for sure) and shows a rainbow over North Myrtle Beach, S.C. (Click here for a closer look.) And while we're at it, click here for another photo from Rain, showing looming storm clouds over the shore as one of Cristobal's feeder band moves overhead. (I tracked this on radar after Dwayne called me). At left is a photo by Rain's younger brother Keith Yancey, showing dark clouds over a harbor in North Myrtle Beach ... click here for a bigger look.

You can see many more photos of Cristobal on the coast from the Yanceys via the Botetourt View blog.

As you can see from these photos, there's not much of a panic going on related to Cristobal. It's just spun out a few gusty showers along the coast. The Carolinas could really use more rain than this storm is likely to produce.

Cristobal will move close to North Carolina's Outer banks today as it continues moving northeastward. It may slowly increase in intensity, but it remains unlikely that it will become a hurricane. You can follow the latest on the National Hurricane Center Web site.

Melting snow clings to a pine branch on, appropriately enough, Southern Pines Road in south Roanoke County

First off, I want to thank everyone who has dropped a comment reporting on their winter weather the past 24 hours. Your reports are very helpful to me and to all those who come here to check in on the weather. I hope all of you ... and many others ... will post comments anytime you have interesting weather, and you can also e-mail me. Below are the links to some photos I shot this morning in south Roanoke County. If you have interesting weather photos, always feel free to email them to me.

Snow on pines and pine cones along Southern Pines Road

The wet snow clung to every branch of many trees

A little leftover slush along South Mountain Road. Some streets became slushy early this morning.

Seth Gitner's video of the Broderick Family of southwest Roanoke County. The family recently moved to Roanoke from Alabama, and the children have only experienced snow once before. Taking advantage of a day off from school, they spent their day playing in the snow.

It was mid-April the last time there were snowflakes in the air over Southwest Virginia. Snow returns to some forecasts for areas west of Roanoke, including parts of the New River Valley, for Tuesday night as a cold front's frigid northwest winds will sweep moisture up the western slopes of the Appalachians, triggering those squally snow showers that become commonplace as we get deeper into winter. I wouldn't be surprised if a few flakes fluttered into the Roanoke Valley on northwest winds, but the best chance of seeing snow will be to the west of I-81. Some higher elevation areas of West Virginia and far western Virginia might even see some white on the ground. Click here for latest local forecasts by counties.

Photo taken by Karena Clinton looking east from Southeast Roanoke.

Keith and Karena Clinton were enraptured by the same scene I was as the sun neared the horizon after this ridiculously hot summer day. A huge cumulonimbus cloud, standing all to itself, filled the eastern sky, lit in beautiful shades of red and orange by the setting sun. We were looking on the back end of a storm near Smith Mountain Lake. The day's heat created extreme updrafts that, at least in this spot and a few others, were able to blast through the cap of warm air aloft keeping most rising clouds from becoming storms. Karena Clinton shot many photos of this storm. For a little change of pace from the obsession with the heat, I've linked several below for you viewing pleasure.You will notice by the cloud shape that each photo labeled as No. 1 was shot at nearly the same time (these are not in chronological order and mine are shot from a variety of locations from downtown toward South Roanoke.)

Clinton photo 1

Clinton photo 2

My photo 1

My photo 2

My photo 3

One more thing: During all this focus on our local heat, I haven't had much chance to consider a rare event: A significant tornado that caused major damage in the New York City burough of Brooklyn. Here's a link to a local report on that event.

David Gravell of Shawsville captured the orange-red glow of Friday's sunset against some mid and high-level cloudiness. (Click here for bigger version of inset photo) This gorgeous skyscape has kicked off a July weekend of rare beauty and comfort, with cool nights, warm but not hot days, bright sunshine and white puffy clouds filling blue skies. Enjoy it again on Sunday. A better chance of thunderstorms moves in Monday, as modest surface heating will be enough to bubble some storms in the unseasonably cold air aloft. It still looks we're in for several days of below-normal temperatures through at least mid-week, when a steady climb of hotter weather may eventually lead to a heat wave, which will set in for the northern tier of the U.S. during the next few days.

For a few days we're in what could be called a typical summer weather pattern, even though it's not really summer yet (though many of you count Memorial Day as the start of summer). Heat, haze and humidity will be the rule the next few days, with a slight chance of afternoon thunderstorms here and there. I got this photo of a cumulonimbus, or thunderstorm cloud, scraping the sky west of Roanoke late Tuesday. Somewhere under this, there was probably a quick hit of heavy rain, lightning and maybe some gusty wind and hail, not unlike what a localized area of downtown Roanoke experienced on Monday. But from where I was, it was only a pretty cloud rising up in front of the late evening sunlight.

The summerlike weather pattern may change over the weekend as a new front moves in, giving us a better chance of more organized thunderstorms, and eventually, some cooler temperatures.

OK, the words "April 7" didn't just appear in a skiff of snow on a board ... a certain weather geek put them there. But I thought I'd just mark the date for posterity. This photo, linked here, that I took of flowers in the snow near my South Roanoke County apartment about 8 a.m. marks the season pretty well, too. Snow accumulation was streaky and spotty: Some folks got enough to turn the ground white this morning, some did not. Some parts of the Roanoke Valley had white grass and car tops this morning, but other parts of the Roanoke Valley only had flurries. Accumulation was more widespread in the New River Valley, where my storm chasing friend Dave Carroll got this photo of a heavy snow squall late Saturday morning in Blacksburg.