So, this is July?Posted Jul01, 2008 at 09:34 AMWe started out the day in the low 60s in Roanoke, and many other places started out in the 50s. A cool, northwesterly breeze and low humidity is adding to the fall-like feel this morning. Highs may fall short of 80 in Roanoke today, and lows will be in the 50s in most places tonight, with even a few upper 40s possible in typical rural cool spots deep in valleys. We will slowly warm up this week as the pattern gradually releases from a March-like dip in the jet stream, importing Canadian cool air southward. Dry air squelches storms in our areaPosted Jun23, 2008 at 06:53 PMIf you've been outside much today, you've probably noticed how dry the air feels. That lack of humidity is the reason storms have not been able to develop in most of Southwest Virginia too. The dew point at Roanoke as of 6 p.m. was 50 degrees. Sunday's storms wrung out a lot of moisture and kicked out some outflow winds that pushed a lot of the moisture eastward. Also, westerly winds today have been blowing downslope, drying them out. Storms have developed as close as the Greensboro area and some of Southside Virginia near Danville, where moisture is thicker. Also, storms have developed in West Virginia where cold air aloft is creating greater instability and there are better wind dynamics aloft for storms to become organized. There is some chance a few of these storms could drift into the area later tonight, but with such dry air in place, it's doubtful that we'll get much out of them. Drier air looks to hang around a few days, with little chance of rain or thunderstorms until late in the week. We've had too little rain, others have had far too muchPosted Jun13, 2008 at 06:04 PMIn Iowa, they've had far too much rain. A Roanoke-sized city in eastern Iowa, Cedar Rapids, has much of its central business district under water. It's all part of a seemingly continuous pattern of heavy rain and severe storms that has raked the Plains and Upper Midwest.Click here for the latest from the Associated Press. The problem is the reverse in our region, where wildfires in both North Carolina and Virginia, including one on Poor Mountain, are burning vegetation and smoking up the air. While the most severe drought is a little to the south of our area,, over the western Carolinas and northeast Georgia, the Roanoke and New River valleys and points south are considered to be in moderate drought. It does look to get much cooler next week, but not a lot wetter. The principal rain threats the next several days will remain in the central part of the U.S In the meantime, the wind flow the next couple of days is likely to change enough to blow away North Carolina's smoke. Then, we'll only have our own to deal with. Another bad air day for Southwest VirginiaPosted Jun13, 2008 at 11:01 AMThough the smoke from the big eastern North Carolina wildfire is no longer blowing right at us, some of it remains trapped under high pressure, and the Poor Mountain fire and other smaller widlfires are adding to it. Combine that with the regular ozone and haze also being trapped near the surface, and it adds up to a day with bad air quality. The Virginia Department of Enviromental Quality has declared the Roanoke region under a Code Orange air quality day, which advises everyone to limit time outside today, especially those most sensitive to airborne pollution. A cold front over the weekend should help clear the air. Scattered thunderstorms are expected to develop this afternoon as well, a few of which could bring torrential rainfall, gusty winds and small hail. I would not be surprised to see a couple of severe thunderstorm warnings issued, though a large outbreak is unlikely. Forecasts are a little smoky tonightPosted Jun12, 2008 at 03:47 PM
The Climate Prediction Center's Hazards Assessment map continues to focus on fire and drought not far from us through late month. The weather service advises that those with chronic respiratory illnesses should avoid being outside until the smoke dissipates, which may occur Friday. A bit of needed rain falling over Southwest VirginiaPosted May28, 2008 at 11:19 AM
Scattered showers are about all there is to itPosted May03, 2008 at 10:52 PMA few showers this afternoon and maybe a few more overnight are about all we're getting out of the same cold front that kicked off a mighty tornado outbreak in the southern Plains and lower Mississippi River Valley. Though a few random showers can't be ruled out, especially early, Sunday looks to be a nice day overall. This may well be the best weekend for outdoor plans we've had in many weeks, though we still could use some more rain for that long-term dry situation. Roanoke Valley still in moderate droughtPosted May01, 2008 at 03:16 PMThe Drought Monitor map didn't change as much as I expected it to after widespread early-week rain. The major change, looking at all of Virginia, is that the areas of severe drough to the east have disappeared. But most of our region south and east of Interstate 81, including Roanoke and Salem, are still considered to be under "moderate drought," with areas to the west and north of I-81 generally considered "abnormally dry." It takes a lot to dig out of the deep hole we've been in. Some rain could fall Saturday with a new front moving in, but it doesn't look like a whole lot will fall over the next 5 days as it stands now. A beneficial rain will help April end as wet monthPosted Apr28, 2008 at 05:45 PMRoanoke picked up .74 inch of rain as of 5 p.m. and .52 inch on Sunday ... a total of 1.26, and since all of Sunday's rain fell from after 6 p.m., that makes it the first 1-inch-plus rain total in a 24-hour period since Oct. 26. If you want to be technical, we sill haven't had an inch on any particular calender day since the October date. In all, we got 1.71 inches of rain since Friday, on top of 1.44 inches over 4 days a week ago, pushing our April total to 4.94 inches, more than an inch and a half above normal as the month comes to a conclusion Wednesday. We may see a few more showers overnight and early Tuesday, but it's unlikely that rain total will go up much more. It'll be our first month more than an inch above normal in precipitation since October. While the strong cold front pushing through the area has meant beneficial rain for us, it has also produced a spate of tornado reports in the Hampton Roads area. The next couple of mornings will be cold, relative to the season. A few snowflakes could fly in higher elevations, maybe even down to the New River Valley, on Tuesday morning, and Wednesday morning could bring patchy frost to Southwest Virginia. Now, this should help dent the droughtPosted Apr28, 2008 at 09:14 AMRoanoke is in a break at the moment but another round of moderate to heavy rains is poised to the west. It would appear that today's rainfall will be the Star City's first inch-plus rain in a 24- hour period since October and also ensure that April is our first significantly above-average rainfall month since October. This is all ahead of a strong cold front that will bring some chilly mornings back to the area, possibly some spring frost to the deeper valleys by Wednesday morning, and maybe even some snow showers to higher elevations tonight. It will also be interesting to see on Thursday, when the new Drought Monitor comes out, how much today's rain will roll back the drought status in the area. Afternoon thunderstorms: A familiar pattern beginsPosted Apr25, 2008 at 04:41 PM
A close call on getting additional significant rainPosted Apr20, 2008 at 06:58 PMWhether or not we can add to the .64 inch of rain we got in Roanoke from showers and storms the last 24 hours (similar amounts across the area) depends on whether the upper-level low, as it moves east and slightly south of the area, can throw back enough moisture for a rain band to develop in our area overnight and early Monday. Right now, it appears the heaviest rain will occur just northeast of the area, but these sluggish upper-level lows often wobble and whirl a bit, so being off a few miles could make a major difference in the forecast. Latest National Weather Service-Blacksburg radar By the way ... severe weather reports from eastern Virginia and eastern North Carolina have included a few tornado reports today. Colder weather, possibly snow showers on the wayPosted Apr12, 2008 at 10:49 AMThe approaching cold front managed to squeeze out some showers and even a few thunderstorms this morning. The threat of severe weather will be farther southeast, where the cold front will be pushing into more sun-warmed air. Later today, we'll see the winds pick up and things turn sharply colder overnight and into Sunday. With an upper-level low moving overhead late Sunday into Monday, it appears that a mix of rain and snow showers will occur across the area, as winter makes a brief mid-April encore. There probably will not be any accumulation of snow except at higher elevations, primarily 3,000 feet or more. Overnight rain will slowly dwindle during the dayPosted Apr06, 2008 at 12:04 AMActually, the round of rain that is coming through as I write his very early on Sunday morning appears to be a little more than what was expected, unlike the areas of rain that mostly missed the Roanoke and New River valleys to the southeast on Saturday. Streaks of moderate and locally heavy rain are occurring here and there amid the lighter rain that is widespread in Southwest Virginia. We will see the showers taper as the day progresses, with almost all of the rain likely to be over by mid-afternoon. This week overally doesn't look very wet with high pressure building back in, which may bounce rain systems more north and west of us as the week progresses. Overnight rain will slowly dwindle during the dayPosted Apr06, 2008 at 12:04 AMActually, the round of rain that is coming through as I write his very early on Sunday morning appears to be a little more than what was expected, unlike the areas of rain that mostly missed the Roanoke and New River valleys to the southeast on Saturday. Streaks of moderate and locally heavy rain are occurring here and there amid the lighter rain that is widespread in Southwest Virginia. We will see the showers taper as the day progresses, with almost all of the rain likely to be over by mid-afternoon. This week overally doesn't look very wet with high pressure building back in, which may bounce rain systems more north and west of us as the week progresses. Storms to the south are drying out our rainPosted Apr04, 2008 at 10:12 PM
North Carolina needs the rain worse than we do, so we won't begrudge them for it. Maybe Saturday's National Weather Service open house will be mostly rain-free. Not rumbly, just rainy so farPosted Mar19, 2008 at 03:41 PMWith almost no sun peeking through the clouds today, the atmosphere has not become as destabilized as it could have been with a little surface warming, so it appears we are missing the potential thunderstorms and getting a decent steady rain instead, with a few heavier downpours. It is possible we could see a squall line move through tonight as the cold front pushes through. Expect 1/2 to 1 inch amounts to be common with some locally heavier totals. Click here for the latest National Weather Service radar. We will also likely be spared the extremely torrential downpours that have hit states west of us, where near-historic flooding is occurring on many rivers after up to a foot of rain fell on the Arkansas and Missouri Ozarks on Tuesday. More on that from the Associated Press. Cold front pushing rain into the areaPosted Feb29, 2008 at 04:36 PM
Yes, there is a much bigger show on the horizon Tuesday and Wednesday, possibly one of the most powerful low pressure systems to move near or through our regions in years. A lot remains to be seen on the details, but for now, it definitely looks more like a rain maker than anything wintry. I'll be taking a closer look at this over the weekend. High wind warning liftedPosted Feb10, 2008 at 10:59 PMThe National Weather Service has lifted the high wind warning in favor of a lesser wind advisory. Some winds of up to 30 mph with a gust or two above 50 will be what we can expect the next few hours. The area where I live in south Roanoke County is littered with shingles that were blown loose in the wind. The next couple of days of chilly but calmer weather will allow for people to pick up various kinds of debris, power crews to get power lines back up (though many will have a cold night without power first) and hopefully for fire crews to claim some ground on wildfires. The fire situation may get much greater help if our midweek rain potential materializes. Below on the extended entry is the last National Weather Service statement listing today's wind reports in the area. A mighty wind roars on a partly cloudy dayPosted Feb10, 2008 at 03:36 PMUPDATE 7:35 PM: I've added some weather service statements in the extended entry listing additional wind reports across the area. Why is this happening, you wonder, a wind storm so powerful that the governor has issued a state of emergency -- on a sunny day? It's not much different than the 2 or 3 cold-front wind-gust events we get each year that knock over trash cans and knock a few people's power out ... except this time, the conditions were extremely perfect for a serious wind. Rapid wind speeds in a small pocket aloft following a cold frontal passage timed just perfectly with decent warming at the surface, thanks to the sunshine in the extremely dry air in place. The cold, dense air aloft sinking into the warmer, lighter air at the surface pulled down some of those strong winds. What is more typically a day of 20-30 mph winds with a few gusts over 50 became a day of 30-50 mph winds with some gusts topping 70. And months of drought have made everything ripe for fires. We really could use some soggy months. Not days or weeks, months. More on local effects from the high winds UPDATE 5:30 PM: Roanoke Regional Airport reported a sustained wind of 47 mph with a gust to 67 mph just before 4 p.m. Just think of this as a cold, sunny version of a tropical storm. Damage to some structures in the area has been reported. Winds have been sustained over 30 mph with gusts over 50 mph throughout the afternoon in the Roanoke Valley, and some gusts have topped 60 mph around the area. I noticed several trees blown down or broken along with few roofs losing shingles or metal material in the Valley View-Herschberger-Peters Creek area this afternoon. Thousands are without power, fires are spreading rapidly near Montvale and just west of Roanoke near Loch Haven ... on an otherwise partly cloudy afternoon with temperatures near 50 that would typically be considered a nice Sunday for February. These winds will likely continue into the evening before diminishing some after midnight as Arctic air moves into the region and lows dip into the teens. In the extended entry below are public information statements from the weather service with some wind gust and wind damage reports. Please drop a comment if you have noticed significant wind damage, a fire, or recorded an especially high wind gust today. Continue reading "A mighty wind roars on a partly cloudy day" » Rain moving into our regionPosted Feb06, 2008 at 11:33 AMA band of rain -- the remnants of the thunderstorms that hammered states to our west with deadly tornadoes on Tuesday -- is moving into the New River and Roanoke valleys as we speak. Expect some wind gusts, brief heavy rain, and maybe a crackle of thunder or two. This is preceding a cold front that will reel us back from highs in the 70s, but not yet return us to wintry cold. The almost-final rainfall totalsPosted Oct26, 2007 at 11:04 PMSome light rain and drizzle will continue for a few more hours, but the bulk of this major 3-day rain event is in the record books. In the extended entry below is a list of unofficial rainfall tallies from around the area. Looks like Snow Creek remained on top, with just over 11 inches since Wednesday. 4 to 8 inches seems to be common. Sounds more like snowfall totals than rain, doesn't it? I'm skeptical about a few of these, like the Blacksburg NWS reporting 3.52 and Virginia Tech Airport getting 1.87, when they are right across the street from each other. Again, these are unofficial and will need some fine tuning and double-checking later. End of rain is in sightPosted Oct26, 2007 at 05:02 PM
I'll have some updated totals later this evening. Snow Creek in Franklin County has reached 10 inches. Most rainfall amounts in Southwest and Southside Virginia are 3 to 6 inches. Flood watch as deluge interrupts droughtPosted Oct26, 2007 at 12:02 PMWe're still going to be many inches below normal when the rain ends late tonight or Saturday, but that doesn't mean we can't have too much in a short period of time. With that possibility in mind, the National Weather Service in Blacksburg has issued a flood watch for much of Southwest and Southside Virginia through this evening. The current rainfall event has topped 4 inches throughout the Roanoke Valley and ranges upward to above 8 inches in some counties to the south. Additional rain of 2 to 3 inches may occur through this evening, and some of it could come down in heavy downpours as moisture continues to stream northward in a persistent band being pulled by the slow-moving low pressure area to our west. For the latest on the rain, click on the National Weather Service current events page and on local Doppler radar. Rain totals keep growingPosted Oct25, 2007 at 10:32 AMAt the bottom in the extended entry is a public information statement from the National Weather Service at Blacksburg listing unofficial storm total rain amounts across Southwest and Southside Virginia in a 35-hour period ending at 7 a.m. today. Most amounts are 2-3 inches, but some exceed 4 inches and even top 5 inches in parts of Franklin and Henry counties. The 2.16 inches of rain that fell at Roanoke Regional Airport through midnight is the most that has fallen in one calendar day since June 26, 2006, when 4.08 inches fell as part of a 6-day period of rain that produced 7 inches. It should be noted, however, that Wednesday's rain total was only .01 inch more than what fell on Nov. 16, 2006. And the rain keeps falling. Everything has set up pretty much perfectly for continued rain today, tonight and likely most of Friday and possibly into Saturday. The stalled upper-level low over Alabama is now drawing a continous fetch of Atlantic moisture from southeast to northwest across the area. That is perfect to produce upslope effects as the moisture is drawn across higher terrain and condensed, and also overrunning effects as warm, moist air is drawn over cooler air that has settled in at the surface. Throw in a stalled frontal boundary just to the south and occasional upper-level impulses, and the stage is set for almost continuous light rain with occasional moderate rain and maybe a few heavier periods of rain, though probably not as many heavy periods as occcured on Wednesday. The National Weather Service in Blacksburg is projecting another 2 1/2 to 3 inches of rain will fall by Saturday in Roanoke, with some heavier amounts to the south. For the latest on the rain event, click here on the the weather service's current event page. Also keep an eye on National Weather Service radar. Showers, storms on the increasePosted Oct24, 2007 at 11:06 AMShowers and thunderstorms are increasing in coverage across Virginia and North Carolina currently. Some storms have even become severe, with a tornado warning in Pittsylvania County. Roanoke, so far, is between two main areas of rain, but expect that to close up some as the afternoon progresses. We'll see if this becomes a steady rain or occasional showers. The chill is backPosted Sep29, 2007 at 06:03 PMA low of 48 this morning, a rather average high of 77 today and probably another similar temperature range on Sunday will ensure that this month does not go down as the warmest September on record. It will probably rank among the top dozen or so in the 59 years of official weather record-keeping at Roanoke Regional Airport, but won't finish as the hottest. Warm weather is still expected through most of the next two weeks. Check out the Climate Prediction Center forecast map. Our coolest weather in months continuesPosted Sep17, 2007 at 10:05 AMRoanoke's high of 69 on Sunday was the first sub-70 high temperature since June 15 -- and cooler than our low temperature was two days last week. The high of 69 and low of 44 averaged to 11 degrees below normal, the farthest below normal our daily temperatures have been since April 10, back during the peach-killing cold snap. Temperatures this week will only slowly warm, with highs mostly in the 70s, and lows rising into the 50s after perhaps another night in the 40s tonight. We might get into the 80s by the weekend. I still think we've seen our last 90-degree day. A little bit nippy this Sunday morningPosted Sep16, 2007 at 09:09 AMJust three weeks and 12 hours after our last 100-degree afternoon, I had to put on my hooded sweatshirt to walk my dog this morning. It appears Roanoke's low has dipped as far as 44 -- not quite a record, which was 42 in 1984, but still 13 degrees below normal. Blacksburg has fallen to at least 39 -- the record there was 35 in 1985. At least one area city has set a new record low: Bluefield W, Va., fell to 39, breaking its old Sept. 16 record of 40 set in 1970, and is particularly notable since Bluefield has practically re-written its record book on the warm side for highs and lows in the past six weeks. Another night of chilly weather appears on tap tonight, with lows again in the 40s, with a few localized upper 30s, and temperatures will only gradually warm in the week ahead. Updated rain totals for FridayPosted Sep15, 2007 at 12:14 AMBelow, in the extended entry, is a list of rain totals through 10 p.m. Friday for locations across much of Western Virginia and parts of Southside Virginia. Rainfall amounts of 1-2 inches were widespread, with heavier amounts of 2-8 inches in parts of Franklin, Henry and Patrick counties. The Roanoke Regional Airport ended up with just shy of an inch, at .91, but a couple of automatic gauges along the Roanoke River caught 1.4 and 1.2 inches, respectively, as you can see in the list. Though the rain didn't end the long-term drought for everyone, it was certainly what the doctor ordered to curb the dryness some. |
