Summer showing signs of slowly dwindling away, but it’s still a bit too early to say what winter “will” do
I saw a Christmas tree in a store lobby. Campaign attack ads have been on the television for months for a November election. In a similar vein, the winter prognostication season has gotten under way with a bold prediction by Accuweather: “Following a snow drought during winter 2011-2012, the mid-Atlantic and southern New England will get a snow dump this winter. ” The prediction largely centers around the expected return of El Nino, the irregularly recurring warming of a strip of equatorial Pacific waters. As you may recall, El Nino was a key influence in the 2009-10 snowy winter we had, pumping a series of wet Pacific storm systems across the southern U.S. into cold air that became trapped much of the winter over the eastern U.S. But as an article today on The Washington Post’s “Capital Weather Gang” and my own Weather Journal column from September 2009 both note, El Nino winters tend to be “feast or famine” for snowfall in the Mid-Atlantic and central/southern Appalachians largely based on whether or not the El Nino coincides with high-pressure blocking over the Arctic Circle and Greenland. So how to take the Accuweather prediction: It’s way too early to say winter WILL do anything, but it’s an interesting idea if (1) El Nino develops as expected (2) it coincides with Arctic air forced southward by blocking high pressure systems in the far northern latitudes.
That, believe it or not, brings us to the current weather pattern — strong blocking highs have developed over Greenland and the North Pole, and that has in turn led to a weather pattern allowing a series of shots of Canadian air into the eastern U.S. It doesn’t work quite as efficiently at our latitude in August as it would in January because of the mean jet stream position being farther north — it won’t dip south all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, usually not making it much farther south than the Great Lakes — and the tendency for the built-up heat of summer 
(in this case, an extreme summer) to moderate the cool air shots as they dip south. But the atmospheric regime change has been striking enough that we will now consider a possible high in the low 90s in Roanoke by Friday as a “heat spike.” This short-lived warmup — starting today with some mid to upper 80s – is preceding the arrival of a rather strong Canadian cold front late on Friday or early on Saturday, that will likely drop highs about 10 degrees between Friday and Saturday. The air mass behind it will be moderating as it heads southward, but it will be broad enough (and trapped enough by high pressure) to have some staying power, with perhaps 4 days or so of 70s-low 80s highs and 50s-near 60 lows from Saturday to Tuesday in Southwest Virginia. Some 40s lows are possible in the usually coldest spots — high exposed ridges and protected valleys — if we have a night or two of clear skies and calm winds to maximize radiational cooling. The arrival of the cold front is likely to trigger a round of showers and thunderstorms, with some localized severe storms and/or heavy downpours possible, but a widespread general rain does not appear to be likely. There is some chance a low will develop along the front and hang some moisture back for a few showers on Saturday, but at this time it appears the front will push far enough through to allow the cooler, drier air to set into western Virginia by Sunday, at least. This may not quite qualify as a “fall-like” air mass, but some of the mornings will provide at least a taste of fall. While it appears likely that a gradual warmup will occur next week, there remains absolutely no indication that extreme heat will build back into the East anytime soon. I think we’re long done with triple-digit heat this summer in Southwest Virginia, and with each day this northwest-flow-dominated air mass hangs on, the chances of another mid-upper 90s day in the Roanoke Valley and points east diminishes. This beast of a summer that gave us the hottest high temperature in 29 years and a fierce windstorm that will rattle our memories for a lifetime may yet fade into history with a only a whimper.
August 15, 2012 - 10:36 PM
RSS feed 
Measuring snow on the ground isnt really a a good way to do it..
Two big factors jump out.
One is like a bridge effect.
Grass ..that stands away from the ground works that way..
it should be a cold surface and raised.
Even the type of soil in different areas could cause some difference
as some soils will retain more heat than others.
And we all know about the soil on the north side of a pine tree being colder than whats on the south facing side.
Keep in mind too that even along the immediate area around the pavement
of something like 81/581 that that heat will disperse laterally into the adjacent soil..
Wherever you measure the snow it needs to be from an adequately raised surface. And dont forget the settling.
Kevin where are you seeing upper 40′s for lows? The next seven days in Blacksburg are not forecasted to be any lower than 55, and Blacksburg is typically one of the cooler spots. As a matter of fact this mornings low of 54 is actually cooler than any projected lows for the next week. It appears the air mass this morning is as cool as it is going to get for the next week.
I agree, talk of what winter will do is ridiculous at this point. Did any predict in August of 2009 that the upcoming winter would be one of the top 5 snowiest on record? I don’t think so. Nobody knows.
Extremely foggy up here on the ridge this morning. Have not seen any wooly worms up close to count their stripes but it sounds like we should maybe count the stripes of grey in someone’s beard
LOL
My wife and I were talking about the change last night while grilling. The “feel” has definitely changed from a month ago. The sun angle, early darkness and a pleasant feel of the air are really making it seem more fall like here on the ridge that we live on in C’burg. It is welcomed.
However, as I get older, the less desire I have to wish away the days, regardless how oppressive the weather is.
It was 49.4 at our nearby Kings Weather Station. No wonder I used the heat on the way to work at 6:30. Just wait until the cold front comes through on the weekend and we’ll easily be in the 40′s.
Another foggy morning! 11 of 16 days now!
Hey Kevin or Doug, how strong was the El Nino during the 2009-2010 winter? Also, I know 2005-2006 was a very very weak La Nina but what was 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 like?
I’ve been waiting for this with great expectation…..the Sept and Sept-Nov outlooks from the CPC, since the northern hemisphere weather pattern changed significantly in the last week. Well, I don’t see any kind of Greenland block for the fall, and other updated maps that I did not include for the winter do not show it either. The winter maps show the dryness moving to the Ohio valley and boardering our area too. Time for that to change I hope. The CPC would not seem to be buying the Accu idea of a cold and snowy mid-Atlantic. Meanwhile, here’s the fall outlook from the CPC.
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/multi_season/13_seasonal_outlooks/color/page2.gif
Mike: Blacksburg actually isn’t one of the coolest spots — not above 3,000 feet, not in a protected rural valley. I’m thinking more about spots like where Rick is talking about in his 8:34 a.m. comment, Burkes Garden, Mount Rogers, those kind of places for 40s. I think we’ll see the morning lows creep downward from current projections Sunday or Monday IF we get optimum radiational cooling on a morning or two. That kind of detail — whether winds will be calm instead of 5 mph, whether skies will be clear instead of 15 percent clouds, whether the dew point will be 45 instead of 50 — isn’t really predictable til within 48 hours. The air mass arriving Saturday may or may not be “cooler” than what we saw early in the week or this morning in terms of absolute lowest temperature, that will depend on minor short-term details, but it is broader and more locked-in and will last longer. We may get 3-4 days of similar below-normal highs/lows out of it. It does appear the chances for a near-record cool mid-August air mass will not be realized because of significant modifying and some degree of slowing of the front as it passes us.
Nick: 2009-10 El Nino was considered to be right on the borderline between moderate and strong.
Rick: Actually, it might be better for snow lovers if we had kind of a warm fall and didn’t cycle through a cold pattern so early. That cold October with a snowstorm miles north of us last fall certainly didn’t lead to much of a winter. Meanwhile, November 2009 was 4 degrees above normal.
I would suspect the CPC is playing the odds that the large drought area will lead to warm fall patterns becoming larger and more intense than they otherwise would.
We do seem to be a few degrees colder at my house in west Wytheville (elev 2450′), than the official Blacksburg reporting station, AND the Kings Weather Station is about 5 miles to my NE and must be a really cold hole, because they are usually a few degrees colder than my house on a calm morning.
Great blog post Kevin!!! Certainly has been an odd summer. So many extremes from the 28 cool days of June to the 12 day extreme heat wave with a packaged derecho and shift from dry to moist in July. Then a cool wedge week of July followed by three weeks of what I’d call “normal” summer here with upper 80s-low 90s and stickiness with chance of rain every day. And then, began August slightly below normal and now below normal every day this month (or at least in the NRV; my temp station has indicated this for most days in August…I follow averages for Bburg but uptick the average by 1-2 degrees to make it closer to Roanoke’s just to compensate for lower elevation). There are rarely dull moments in SW VA weather.
But, even if I am speaking prematurely with regards to extreme heat, this summer aside from the blast furnace of a lifetime (12 day heat wave) was surprisingly pleasant (like 2009) and I’d take it again anyday (MINUS THE DERECHO!) It hasn’t been overly dry for me. Moisture has moderated. And I guess I’m overly optimistic about this summer because it was so much more brutal in 2011 and 2010. While the lows were warm in July, 2010 had the worst lows EVER. Felt awful and never got better between April 1 and sometime in September (or “Tepsember” as Doug says). Summer 2012 has been a treat.
But of course the few times I go to play golf (most notably June 24 at Castlerock and a few others at the driving range) it was blazing hot. Now true, 28 days of June were mostly nice but around the 24th it was briefly hot. Luckily, Giles Co. is cooler naturally. Went to the driving range Tuesday and it was very nice.
Joe: I do know they measure on an elevated snow board at WDBJ, sweeping it clean every 6 hours per official requirements. There are some critics out there who say this modern method has led to inflated figures compared to the old-school stick the ruler in the snow on the ground 3 times and average it (still accepted as a secondary method, I believe).
49 wonderfully cool degrees this morning in Woodlawn!! Great to see the 40′s again…I’ve missed ‘em!
Kevin great post this morning and agree it way to early for winter predictions. In another post did anyone remember the man who predicted weather by volcanic activity back in the 60s?
As autumn moves along, we might get some clue on how the northern latitudes patterns will develop based on Arctic ice extent and then a little later Northern Hemisphere snow cover. There is a good bit of research linking larger periods of Arctic ice melt to the negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation, and therfore more southerly pushes of cold air. Also, early broad snow cover in Siberia and Canada often precedes intrustions of Arctic air into the U.S. — the snow cover in Canada lagged considerably early last winter.
My early guess would be that we will see 2 or 3 significant 7-15 day Arctic periods amid an otherwise normal to slightly warmer than normal winter. How much subtropical jet interaction we get in those cold periods would determine our snow prospects. I’m kinda thinking similar to the 2002-03 with several small/medium snow systems rather than large events. But at this point, that’s little more than a barely educated guess — and I won’t position it as anything more.
Louis Rueben[sp?]
He only predicted cold fronts, not snow. He considered his forecast accurate with a 24 hr window plus or minus of the date he said. Think one year he had an accuracy rate of 88%.
49 degrees down here in between Hillsville and Fancy Gap this morning, round 2800′ but somewhat in a “bowl” (surrounded by ridges that touch 3,000. Gosh I love it! Almost that time of year.
Here you are Randy.
http://www.richmag.com/?articleID=b3df5d8df96bc367256255a22e04be41
Rick, that cpc map you posted is largely playing the odds also of an El Nino developing, evidenced by the wet spots over the Southwest and growing spots over the Southeast. Many forget that El Nino is a pacific pattern, and without any artic air, or anything to hold artic air in place, or any artic air built up, it is a Pacific Blow Torch across the United States. I would put fair confidence in these maps from this far out for the fall, but wouldn’t consider it an accurate depiction of where things are going temperature wise. In the fall, you obviously won’t have opportunity to tap as much Artic air. Think if you are a snow lover right now, you have to like the picture better than you did last year. At least some pieces of the puzzle look to be falling. The other pieces, won’t even come into play til 2-3 months down the road.
Also – what a pathetic pathetic job of accuweather selling the weather. They put that headline out – - look how much attention/traffic they have received because of this headline. While 10 percent of the headline might be true, the El Nino part, anyone with a brain shouldn’t put much stock into it. The tropics are quiet, there is no heat wave, hardly any severe weather in the part of the country where their clientele is the largest. Just a pathetic ploy to SELL the weather.
Also, someone jog my memory, what was the winter of 2010-2011 like? Right about average?
Yes Kevin..
theres just so many things that make
snow depth so inexact.
Moisture content of the snow itself
will radically affect the depth and its
own compression…not to mention how much
air is in fluffy drier snow.
I agree with Zach 300%. Accu sells the weather. The Weather Channel does the same thing. If there’s nothing that should sell at the moment, they’ll find remote possibilities to sell. Everything from storms to calm weather is hyped like it should be breaking news, that it is remarkalbe, that it must be explained in exciting and varied details. If the weather is pretty much normal and bland, they hype the smallest details or put out an attention getting scenario that has little chance of varifying. Some of these folks could market refrigerators to eskimos. I like how our own KM avoids serving up hype, and like Sgt Friday said in Dragnet….”Just the facts mam”.
Thank you Mr Brand I believe that was him. Now what radio station was he heard on please
Kevin, back to current weather – checking radar and seeing this big line of storms coming through Ohio. Question is — will it make it over the mountains to us later today?
Ooops – wrong state – Indiana instead of Ohio. Sorry about that.
Zach, great posts!! I totally agree with you and what you said about Accuweather. The winter of 2010-2011 was slightly below average I believe. Blacksburg I think got around 10-13 inches for the whole season (that may be inflated slightly) and Roanoke got around 8-10 inches total. So it wasn’t a total drought of a winter for snow but coming after 2009-2010, it sure felt like it. If 2009-2010 wasn’t before it, it probably would’ve been considered a good winter. Everyone’s expectations were so high.
More info about it: December was very cold (I don’t know the average though for the month). First snow was on Dec 5. It was light but stuck around for 2 weeks because it was very cold. Our biggest snow was on Christmas Day with widespread 4-6 inches. And it’s interesting that Christmas 2009 was icy and rainy yet there was a foot of snow on the ground, meanwhile 2010 was the one that had the actual snow on Christmas Day. January was ho-hum and normal for a while. But January 26, 2011 looked to be close to a big ‘un but went wide right and was super disappointing and Kevin was very tired from it. February was a blast furnace relative to winter. March was warm but then we had a 3-6 inch snow threat elevation dependent around the March 25 but Gulf thunderstorms stole the moisture. Very disappointing winter with a few highlights. Hope that helped!
Most of that info was from memory so in case I got something wrong, feel free to point it out. It should be good though.
DC…futurecast has those storms currently in Indiana/Ohio arriving here in SW VA late tomorrow afternoon(after 4pm).
Rick, very true! Kevin avoiding the hype prevents people from getting disappointed, and also, Kevin is a very trustworthy source…even more so than the local news or TWC.
Ever since NBC owned TWC back in 2008 and also when their logo changed in 2005, it has gone downhill. NBC isn’t bad but the TWC and NBC have no purpose being with each other…Stephanie Abrams is a joke. And the only good part of TWC is on the weekends if Jeff Morrow or a few others are there. And I don’t want CNBC economy reports or world news reports on The WEATHER Channel! It is so stupid. I get so aggravated when I just want to find out the weather there and I get dumb antics from Abrams or find Jim Cramer talking to Al Roker. What the?!?! I rarely watch them anymore and only sometimes go their website now.
Never listened to him on radio.
Kevin:
When listening to NWS radio, what does it mean “zero cooling degree days” or “zero heating degree days”? It’s confusing because it’s reviewing a location’s weather for the previous day. Just wondering.
SW Virginia should not have much in the way of storms until Friday when the cold front is pushing closer. Whether that is a continuation of the current line or a redevelopment of storms on the front Friday is a bit murky.
Vickie: Heating and cooling degree days are a means of estimating home energy usage for heating and cooling.
65 is considered to be the base temperature. If the day’s average temperature (mean of high and low) is above 65, subtracting it from 65 gives the number of cooling degree days, which can be added for a month, season or year to estimate whether cooling energy needs were above or below normal.
If the day’s average temperature is below 65, subtracing teh day’s average temperature from 65 nets the number of heating degree days. Those can then added for a given time period to estimate heating energy needs.
Some more explanation from USA Today:
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/askjack/waskdays.htm
Vickie, they are everything KM said and more. Heating and cooling days were designed to allow energy companies, utilities a to get a jump on how much they can raise their rates next year, whether they incur excessive costs or not. Too little, they get a raise. Too much they get a raise. Middle of the road, well the stockholders haven’t made projected gains, so a hoo-hum raise is granted. Now if I can figure out how to get these strings off my arms and legs, I consider it a well spent afternoon.
Official high/low temperatures of 86/62 for Roanoke and 81/56 for Blacksburg today each average out to a degree below normal for the date.
Zach, the Nickster did a good job of reviewing the winter of 2010-11, and since you live over near the I-77 corridor (don’t you?), what he wrote was probably more accurate for your area than what I am about to spout. I remember 2010-11 very well. December was brutally cold, a ridiculous 7.8 degrees colder than normal in Roanoke.
Finally a low of 59 this Morning!High today 87.Can`t wait until this weekend where its only going up to upper 70`s.Down to 77 now.Been a brutal summer up here in Northern Va!
Temp drop of around 12* here from 5PM to 7:30PM. Yep, summer is slowly being showd the door.
Rats, I did not intend to click the “Post comment” button. Sigh. 12 days in DEC. ’10 were at least 10 degrees colder than normal, and another two days were -9. Only two days were warmer than normal, and one was Dec. 1, when the high temp for the month was 61* at 12:01 AM. But temp at dawn was down to about 50 as I remember it. Also, 1.10 inches of rain fell of the 1.99 inches of precip for the month. The next 29 days were all below normal, and the warmest temp (and this is at RRA AIRPORT!!) was 45* on both the 22nd and 30th. Finally another warm day on the 31st, the first time the temp had climbed above 45* since the morning hours of the 1st. High on the 31st was 58. Kevin, wasn’t Dec. 2010 the coldest December ever at Roanoke? But despite all that cold air and frozen ground, ROA only got a tad more than 7 inches of snow (THANK YOU, WEATHER GODS!!!!), and the biggest one-day total was 3.0 inches (using the snow-board, mind you) on Christmas Day. I remember that I had worried and I think pessimistically predicted that the snowfall on the 16th would be 6 inches, but a layer of warm air aloft changed the precip to sleet halfway through the event. That was a preview of coming (A) DETRACTIONS as far as the 8 zillion snow lovers who read this blog were concerned, but coming (B) ATTRACTIONS as far as the Oakey-Griggs-plus about 3 others of the Snow Haters Club were cncerned. Many other “promising/threatening” snow events turned to busts or under-performers later that winter, too.
That month of 12/10 was a classic example of what Kevin has talked about a few times through the years here, namely that sometimes SW Virginia can turn much colder than normal, even for an extended period, but lacks moisture to go along with it.
Continuing on the winter of 2010-11, January 2011 was also a bit colder than normal (-1.1), but not nearly as extreme as December. The one extended cold spell was between the 3rd and 14th, but there was a window later in the month for a possible snowstorm that fizzled/busted badly. The one on January 26th was looking very promising for at least 4 inches of snow locally, but even though it was by far Roanoke’s wettest day of the month (0.57 inches of precip of the very dry 0.82 for the entire month), the temps didn’t quite get cold enough at the right time and other factors came into play and the tears on this blog easily outmeasured the paltry 0.2 inches of snow for the day. The total snowfall for the month was 2.4 inches, but not even a full inch on any single day. Again, plenty of cold days but an overall lack of moisture. After Dec. 1st, the total precip at RRA from Dec. 2nd through Jan. 31st was a very dry 1.69 inches cumulative.
Nick: You’re description of 2010-11 winter is very succinct and almost entirely accurate. Roanoke ended up with 10.4 inches of snow and Blacksburg 18.6 inches. January 26 was the ultimate hard-feelings bust for snow lovers when the moisture cut off early and the brunt of the upper-low snuck by to the I-64 corridor and northward. It set a record for Weather Journal blog hits, though, as people were on the edge of their seats.
The snow lover/snow hater angst almost got out of control at times in that winter, because much of it was so cold with snow teases that kept everyone on edge. It was actually much calmer this past winter — snow lovers were quickly resigned to what an awful winter pattern it was, pleasantly surprised by the 1 decent snow that did happen on Feb. 19 (2 for some who got a few inches out of the early March clipper) and snow haters could hardly complain with the 2nd warmest winter on record and a a single Sunday snow that mostly disappeared by Monday afternoon.
Doug: December 2010 was 5th coldest on record for Roanoke based on average temperature — but tied for coldest based solely on average high temperature.
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/rnk/climate/top10s/ROA/loavgt12.txt
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/rnk/climate/top10s/ROA/coldmaxt12.txt
The first 11 days of February 2011 were about normal here, with 6 days being colder than normal. But again very dry. The only snowfall at RRA in FEB happened on the 9th, but a tiny 0.6 inches, and that was via the snowboard of course. Then somebody turned on the furnace, the NAO turned positive, and I was linking to the Battle Hymn of the Republic and “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the warmth ….” etc. ad nauseam. Winter basically ended on February 12th, Abie Baby’s birthday. An incredible FABULOUS change imho compared with the brutal FEB 2010. There was an additional 0.2 inches of snow at RRA in late March. So I think that the entire winter total at RRA was just a bit over 10 inches, but never more than 3 inches at a time.
Back to present: Summer 2012 through today is averaging 76.7 degrees for Roanoke, officially. It would tie 3 other years for 5th hottest if it ended today. With several days of normal/below-normal temperatures likely ahead, it’s going to continue to have its decimals shaved. I think there’s a real chance this summer that had such an extreme 12-day period from June 28-July 9 might not even be a Top 10 hottest summer, with the relatively cool first 3 weeks of June and the moderate August.
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/rnk/climate/top10s/ROA/avgT_Hi_summer.txt
Kevin, with Gordon “going the wrong way”, how about that disturbance just west of the Yucatan? Could that head north to the drought areas of the US?
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
One good thing in most people’s opinion about the change in the 2nd half of February was that not only the heat was turned on (“heat” being a relative term), but also somebody turned on the faucet, too. After RRA had received an awfully low total of about 2 inches of precip between 12-2-10 and 2-23-11, there was 1.81 inches of rain in the last 5 days of Feb., and the March 2011 total was a wet 4.23 inches. Saved us from a spring drought.
Thanks for replying about the Dec. 2010 placement in the rankings, Kevin. What words you applied to the upcoming winter mirror my feelings, too. Alternating periods of cold and relative warmth, but we will probably get two 4+ inch snowstorms (and that’s in ROA!) this winter. I just realized by reviewing the statics that ROA has received more than 3.1 inches of snow from a single snowstorm only once since early Feb. 2010, and that was February’s “perfect” 7 or 8-inch snowfall on President’s Day this year.
Hey, I finally got around to reading most of the remaining posts today. And Zach and Rick, I got a huge kick out of your comments complaining about (especially) Accuweather and also (at times) TWC. And I agree. And say “Here, here!!” to the praise of KM and his lack of hype. Question: can anyone here remember when Accuweather predicted a tame winter? Especially for the Northeast and the eastern half (Ohio, IND, Mich., Illinois) of the Midwest? I bet the answer is “No, never.” And Rick, I would really like to meet you sometime. Your comment about the TWC folks being such salesmen that they could probably sell refrigerators to Eskimos was hilarious!!
Also switching to the present, does anyone think that we will have one more true heat wave in September? I’m not talking 100s or even upper 90s, but even 5 or 6 days at RRA at or over 90*? I do. But hope that I am wrong. I think that I did an analysis of what previous Septembers had been like, and very few of them have been at least 2 degrees cooler than normal at RRA since 2000.
Hey, Kevin, or anyone else if they know, what is the earliest date for Roanoke’s last day of 90+ degrees in a single year? Has it ever been in July?
Kevin,
Is that ominous looking radar entering western Kentucky tonight gonna look like that when it gets here tomorrow?
Mark: We’ll get some rain and storms when that front gets here tomorrow. Some of it may survive overnight, but more of it will be redevelopment.
Doug: 1996 and 1966 had their final 90 degree days in July. Don’t have exact dates handy. 1966 is significant because that’s when there were a record 22 days of 90-plus in July.
Rick: Glad you pointed out that tropical disturbance in the Gulf. Hadn’t noticed it yet. I presume wind flow around the descending Canadian high would take it west and northwest toward northern Mexico, maybe west Texas or the desert Southwest.
Some chance the front hangs up south of us and a wave or two rides along it this weekend and early next week. If that happens, we won’t see the very cool nighttime lows we might otherwise get, but could get some very cool daytime highs. And there could be more rain that anticipated. Something to monitor.
Well Doug, we’ll never meet on the golf course, been there done that “sport”……………..now that’s a game for masochists.
Does anyone know how many snow days Roanoke County needs this year to keep their exemption and start school after Labor Day next year?
I don’t have that number on hand. I know it’s a bunch. I’ll see if I can get it.
I took just look at that ominous bow echo storm front in Western KY. I would prefer it lose some intensity prior to arriving at the Chapel. Guess that is a sign of the cooler weather to come. Took a walk this evening and even though it was 80 when I got home from work, the shade has a fall look and feel now. Hope it lasts right into September.
Wow, Kevin is that the total snowfall for the winter of 09-10 down in Blacksburg and Roanoke? Didnt realize it was so differnt then up here in Greene. That was the snowiest winter on record for our area with reports of around 65 inches for the winter. A total of 4 feet fell with 2 seperate storms, cant really remember where the rest fell in, I guess just smaller storms! I find it hard to believe that Accuweather is calling for a repeat performance of 09-10. What is your gut feeling?
Jared: No what I listed was for ’10-’11, the next winter. ’09-’10 was 43 inches for Roanoke and 54 for Blacksburg.
See my 10:19 a.m. comment for an early feel on winter.
Yeah, Jared. When December 2010 started off so cold, even earlier than 2009, I was scared out of my wits. I figured, “Great, we are going to get another big December snowstorm, even earlier than” the previous year, and it will remain cold again and my fellow letter carriers and I will have to deal with frozen snow for most of the winter again. But it never snowed heavy here. By mid-February I breathed one gigantic sigh of relief. It seems the Oakster and I dodged a dozen bullets that winter.