UPDATED 9:45 AM: Rain slacking after pounding U.S. 220 corridor — Greensboro/Henry County/Franklin County/Roanoke Valley
UPDATE 9:45 AM: The rain will be ending rapidly in the Roanoke Valley — as it already has at points to the south — as the large rain area pulls northward. There are widespread reports of 2 to 5 inches in the counties under flash flood warnings — Botetourt, Bedford, Roanoke, Franklin and Henry — with locally up to 8 inches for the last 24 hours in Henry County. Rainfall amounts drop off rapidly going west from there and dwindle a bit going east until growing again toward central Virginia. Local flash flood reports turned into the National Weather Service in Blacksburg include Tinker Creek being out of its banks near 13th street in Northeast Roanoke, Doe Run Creek out its banks east of Rocky Mount, and several reports of water over roads in Martinsville and Henry County. END UPDATE
UPDATE 7:15 AM: Roanoke County and Roanoke city plus Bedford County and eastern Botetourt County have just been placed under a flash flood warning until 1 p.m as heavy rain continues to pound the Roanoke Valley. END UPDATE
UPDATE 7AM: Franklin County is now also included in the flash flood warning as a band of heavy rain continues to affect the U.S. 220 corridor from Martinsville to Rocky Mount to the Roanoke Valley. There are reports of creeks out of their banks in Martinsville and Bassett. Rainfall rates have reached 1/2 inch an hour at Roanoke Regional Airport, with some even higher rates reported southward along the Blue Ridge. The circulation of a low-pressure system can be seen in north-central North Carolina on a National Weather Service-Blacksburg radar loop and it appears this low’s northward track will continue to push bands of heavy rain across the U.S. 220 corridor/Blue Ridge area for the next 2 or 3 hours before there will be some slacking of the precipitation. END UPDATE
UPDATE 5AM: Heavy rain is lining up along the U.S. 220 corridor from the Greensboro/Winston-Salem area of North Carolina north to Roanoke and just to the north. Rainfall rates of around 1/2 inch per hour with occasionally as much as 1 inch per hour — perhaps locally 2 inches per hour, briefly — are possible in this corridor for the next few hours. Flash flood warnings have been issued in the Triad area of North Carolina ,with law enforcement reporting flooding, north toward Henry County in Virginia, where about 3 inches of rain has been reported in the last three hours. Greensboro received about 3/4 an inch between 3 and 4 a.m. Some moderate to locally heavy rain is also working west into the New River Valley. Interstate 77 remains approximately the line between significant rain and little rain, with the edge of the rain area located about 10 miles west of I-77 early this morning. You can continue to watch the progress of the rain on National Weather Service-Blacksburg radar, linked here. END UPDATE
With the edge of the moderate to heavy rain extending from Lynchburg to Martinsville to Mount Airy, N.C, and moving northwest, it appears most of Southwest Virginia will experience significant rainfall overnight from an atmospheric setup involving an upper-level low to our southwest, a long plume of tropical moisture from the Caribbean, a washed-out minimal tropical storm, a stalled front to our east, and a developing low pressure system along the coast incorporating elements of each of the above. Rainfall amounts are still a bit hard to discern, judging by differing forecasts and computer models, but it would appear at this time that Interstate 77 will roughly be the dividing line between moderate to heavy rainfall amounts of at least a half-inch to the east and lighter showers to the west overnight. A flash flood watch remains in effect until early Thursday evening for counties along a Stuart to Roanoke to Lexington line and eastward, with 2-4 inch rainfall amounts expected generally east of this line. Don’t be surprised if some places west of this line get more than 2 inches and some places to the east get less, as the movement of invidual rain bands and just plain ol’ inaccuracies in computer modeling could vary the amounts somewhat. There could be some localized flooding issues, but mostly this is going to be another welcome rain to build on the early week rain in easing long-term dryness.
You can click here to check out the latest National Weather Service-Blacksburg radar.
A mostly dry and cool weekend — borderline cold by Sunday morning — looks to be on tap. Yet another upper-level low diving southeastward could bring showers back to the forecast by early next week, but it’s probably not going to have the same vein of tropical moisture to tap into as this week’s systems have.
September 29, 2010 - 10:05 PM
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Currently at Myrtle Beach and the winds are finally starting to pick-up, heavy sideways rain and a constant whistle throughout the room.
While we need the rain, I’m glad we’re not likely to get the kind of deluge that Wilmington is getting right now. Even Robin Reed mentioned them down there this evening. They’re getting completely swamped.
Some of eastern NC/Va. is going from severe drought to major flooding in about 5 days.
We’ve had some light showers and drizzle here in New River tonight, not sure what the accumulation is, but we had about 0.02″ from a few light showers earlier today. If it keeps up like it is, we might eke out a quarter inch or more by morning.
As of 5 a.m., Roanoke officially topped an inch for the event, with nearly 3/4 inch of that in just the last 3 hours
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/data/obhistory/KROA.html
Automated stations in the Roanoke County area show generally 1-2 inches in the past 12 hours as of 5:20 a.m.
http://www.afws.net/data/va/Roanoke.HTM
I’m noticing a few 4-plus amounts in Henry County.
http://www.afws.net/data/va/Henry.HTM
As of 6 AM, both Sugar Loaf Mntn and Witts Orchard have received almost 2.44 inches in the previous 24 hours. SLM has received 2 inches in the last 6 hours. Meanwhile, Marrowbone Reservoir in Henry County, on the NC border SW of Martinsville, has received 6.39 inches !!!! in the last 24, 5.43 in the past 6 hours. Yikes! Your comment at 6:12 PM yesterday (on previous thread) was terrific, Kevin.
The track of the inland low pressure system along the stalled front seems to be a bit farther west than expected … but not terribly far west. The NAM for a while yesterday was picking up on a secondary zone of heavy rain exactly where it has occurred, along the U.S. 220 corridor.
The automated rain gauges seem to be not registering on the Internet when last I looked, as they show 0.00 for all sites in Roanoke, Henry and Franklin counties the last hour — obviously inaccurate.
Looks like a band of heavy rain is pivoting into the Roanoke Valley just in time for morning rush. Be watchful for ponding on the roads and especially any streams or ditches that may be flowing across roads.
The city of Roanoke now under flash flood warning.
You beat me to it by 1 minute, Anthony.
Officially, at Roanoke Regional Airport, 1.80 has fallen midnight to 7 a.m. with half that in the last 2 hours. An even 2 inches has fallen counting Wednesday’s showers and drizzle.
AS of 7:42 am 3.87inches since 12:00am Red Valley area Franklin County and still coming down about 3/4 inch per hour.
We got a bit over a half-inch by this morning…maybe over 0.6 or so by now, as the rain is going to be ending soon. I’ll take that.
Here’s this for NUTS! Wilmington, NC (my favorite place to spend a week, other than the monastery), had 0.18″ of rain through Saturday, Sept. 25.
On the 26th, they got 0.59″, monthly total up to 0.77″
On the 27th, they got 10.33″, monthly total to 11.10″ Yes, almost a foot of rain…
On the 28th, they got another 1.96″, bringing the monthly total up to 13.06″
And yesterday they added 7.37″, bringing the month to a whopping 20.41″!
And that does not include anything they have gotten since midnight! And it’s still raining there!
And here’s the list of weather advisories for that area too:
Flash Flood Warning
Coastal Flood Warning
Tornado Watch
Flash Flood Watch
High Surf Advisory
Wind Advisory
Rip Current Statement
Special Weather Statement
Hazardous Weather Outlook
Yikes…
… and that incredible drought to double-deluge change in Wilmington has come without a hurricane.
It appears the rain is wrapping up as the system pulls northward. I see a 24-hour report of a bit over 8 inches at Jones Creek in Henry County. Will have a full listing of rainfall amounts from around the region later.
Seeing as how this round was not originally forecast for the area…I suppose it makes up for the miss on the rain totals from the first system. We got over 3″ combined from both…not far from the 4-6″ they had originally slated us for. Perhaps we can get a few days to dry out before the next rains come in…I’ve got a round of golf at Auburn Hills to play Sunday…and I’ll be at the Highlander Festival Saturday to watch the Highland Games and Enter the Haggis.
I am in Wrightsville Beach off of Wilmington. The ocean waves are almost to the dunes. The sand is blowing over the dunes toward the buildings and the rain and wind are coming sideways south to north. It is amazing!
BTW…two interesting stories I wanted to share. One is realted to the rain in Wilmington…the other related to this past year’s snowfall in Finland.
http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/38097/four_months_worth_of_rain_in_f.asp
http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/38066/snow_pile_in_finland_finally_m.asp
Amazing for both. I found it funny that motorcycles got caught up in the snow scooped from Helsinki streets. Now I know what happened to mine!
My rain station must be out with the IFLOW gauges…I’ll be out changing the batteries in the transmitter as soon as I can safely get a ladder by it…
My back up is showing only about an inch and a half…just looking at the flooding around my yard, I would say that is not accurate…
It has stopped raining here in Hardy and the run is coming out…
According to Roanoke Emergency Management the flood watch has been canceled.
Kevin,
I have always been fascinated about what weather factors influence the intensity and direction of the jet stream. Obviously, we’ve had the upper level low causing the dip over the east while the high pressure ridge has set up over the west. Is one of those elements stronger than the other or is it generally Mother Nature doing her balancing act?
Storm total at home in South Roanoke a hefty 3.70 inches. Since last Saturday night a whopping 7.70 inches. Drought busted on Peakwood Dr!
Merle, the trigger for this pattern change was a typhoon in the Pacific several days ago that morphed into a big extratropical low that bent the jet stream deeply to the south in the Pacific. Like whipping a hose, that dip caused the ridge to form in the West and the big trough or dip to form in the East. We’ll probably have a weather pattern at least resembling this until something big snaps the hose again.