2011.02.28
Soaking, sometimes heavy, rain lingers into early evening
The tornado watch expired at 4 p.m. — the threat of severe storms has shifted mostly south and east of Southwest Virginia. What is continuing is a soaking, sometimes heavy, rainfall. Most locations have totalled 0.50 to 1.50 inch already with a broad area of moderat to heavy rain, and possibly some embedded thunderstorms, moving eastward across the I-77 corridor into the New River and Roanoke valleys as of 4 p.m. (Latest NWS-Blacksburg radar linked here). This will make the Monday commute from work a mess but it certainly is welcome rain for ground left parched by a extraordinarily dry winter — that will be less so stastically since today’s rain comes on the final day of meteorological winter. Use caution driving home because even though it has been dry there could be water ponding on roads or even overflowing some drainages onto the rain. It should ease up by early evening and be done by no later than 10 p.m., likely earlier.
RSS feed 
rain started here west of Richmond around 2ish. so far .26″
Comment by Captain Glen Quagmire — February 28, 2011 @ 4:14 pm
#
3:30 Rainfall totals. Please skip this comment if not interested. First, ME. About 0.65 inches in my gauge, which had been emptied this morning. Sugar Loaf Mntn across SLM Road from my house: 0.56. Same at Mill Mountain at “The Star.” 0.88 at Tinker Creek north of downtown (although I am once again suspicious that gauge there is over-measuring a bit). Only 0.36 at Mason Creek in NW County (well north of Salem). 0.60 at both Walnut Street (not too far from Carilion Rnke. Meml Hospital) and Roanoke Sewer Plant near Vinton. Salem Pump Station just south of West Main St. only shows 0.12, but that has to be a bad number. 0.72 in Daleville, southern Botetourt County. 0.52 in Buchanan. Only 0.37 near Boones Mill. Calloway in Franklin County, SW of Boones Mill: 0.48 NE corner of Franklin County, just south of Windy Gap: 0.40. Adney Gap on the Blue Ridge Parkway, fairly close to Bent Mntn: 0.72. More (counties further west) in a separate comment.
Comment by Doug Griggs — February 28, 2011 @ 3:58 pm
#
Blacksburg rain total as of 3:30: 0.72, and the same number at Lafayette in eastern Montg. County. 0.80 at Shawsville. A relatively big 1.04 on top of Poor Mountain (to be expected because of its elevation): 1.04. NRV Airport in eastern Pulaski County (N of Dublin): 0.48. Peak Creek in Pulaski: 0.64. 0.80 in two Wythe County locations, one being the “2way” in Wytheville and Sand Mntn on US 21 south of Wytheville. And as Michael Hoback has mentioned, a gold mine of big amounts (perhaps too much?) in Washington County (which includes Abingdon and Bristol, VA). Five sites with amounts of at least 1.40 inches, and a 1.68 at Shady Valley, E of Bristol and on the NC border.
Comment by Doug Griggs — February 28, 2011 @ 4:08 pm
Comment by Doug Griggs — February 28, 2011 @ 4:31 pm
We are at .8 here in eastern Montgomery. Thunder has rumbled on and off throughout the afternoon, but it was in the distance. A very nice rainy day…made for watching cheesy movies and X-files episodes all day today.
Comment by TinaB — February 28, 2011 @ 4:36 pm
I suppose you could say “we wouldn’t have been snow holed this time”
Comment by wdbrand — February 28, 2011 @ 4:44 pm
We have measured a half-inch here in Rockbridge County so far today, but it is still coming down, and at a rate that is setting records for the season.
Incidentally, yellow winter jasmine has been blooming profusely at VMI for several days. Since the report about forsythia blooming in ROA comes so early, I wonder if there could be misidentification? They look very much alike when driving by.
Comment by Lexingtonian — February 28, 2011 @ 5:04 pm
Take it slow on 581. I very nearly hydroplaned fifteen minutes ago.
Comment by Brandon R. — February 28, 2011 @ 5:33 pm
Looking at a gorgeous yellow/orange sunset sky as the rain is about to push on out.
Comment by Kevin Myatt — February 28, 2011 @ 6:13 pm
Rain is gonzo from NRV, Roanoke, Henry County. This one, like Thursday’s event, was a case of: “Another one ends the dust!!” LOVE IT!!
Comment by Doug Griggs — February 28, 2011 @ 6:37 pm
Here near the doppler in Floyd County, we got 0.94 inches of rain. We had some lightning and thunder during the day with the rain. Yes, around 6 pm there was a gorgeous yellow/orange sunset. Now I am expecting the “spin dry cycle” to start.
Comment by Doppler Carol — February 28, 2011 @ 7:00 pm
I know @wdbrand I was thinking this also. Where was this moisture 4-8-12 weeks ago? If the setup would have been right it would have been a big one.
Comment by Keith — February 28, 2011 @ 8:05 pm
I looked up the TWC Hourly Forecast for the 24017 zip code tomorrow, and am very skeptical of one part of their forecast. They are predicting winds of only 6-7 mph. Do you agree with that, Kevin, or anyone? Usually after a cold front comes through in the evening of one day, the next day is at least somewhat breezy.
Comment by Doug Griggs — February 28, 2011 @ 8:26 pm
CPC 8-14 day has modified the purples that appeared over the weekend with dark blues (60% chance of colder than normal temps), for most of Montana, the Dakotas, and most of Minnesota. But anyway one looks at it, there is cold air plunging into the northern Plains next week. SW Virginia is in an intermediate shade of blue, a 40% chance of colder than normal temps. Of course, by March 8-14, normal highs for Roanoke will be 55-56, probably 51-52 for Blacksburg.
Comment by Doug Griggs — February 28, 2011 @ 8:34 pm
We picked up 1.24″ of rain from this storm at the house, bringing us to 2.52″ in about a week. Considering we got about the same (2.66″) in a 3-month span from Dec 2 through the day before the first rainstorm last week, this is an impressive turn around. If we get another big soaking later this week we may be able to erase the drought impacts even with the overall rain deficit.
Comment by Other John — February 28, 2011 @ 9:43 pm
Measured 1.5 inches of rainfall today in my backyard in Riner. Looks to be the most I have seen reported locally. The water has started to seep up through the cracks in the slab in the baement, just a bit.
Comment by Jason — February 28, 2011 @ 9:48 pm
The grand total here in Blackwell Chapel was 2.1 inches for the day. Creeks are out of their banks and in the road in many places. It all came to an end around 5 pm with chilly winds blowing tonight. I had to crank up the old wood stove since I let the fire go out Saturday. This gives us a total of 4.2 inches since last Thursday.
Comment by Michael Hoback — February 28, 2011 @ 10:32 pm
Doug: There is no deep low cranking off the coast this time, so winds will probably die down under 10 mph during the day on Tuesday. It’s more like a frontal passage we’d see in April or May than the ones we get in winter that almost invariably involve some kind of bombing low somewhere northeast of us.
Comment by Kevin Myatt — March 1, 2011 @ 12:11 am