Are we finished with snow in this topsy-turvy winter-spring of 2018?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
Roanoke Times weather guru Kevin Myatt says the next few days warms up to more traditional weather than the 18 inches of wet, sloppy snow that brought down trees and power lines and left many residents of Floyd County and other areas of Southwestern Virginia still waiting for restoration of electricity.
But?
“What would be a classic snow setup for us in January and a marginal one in March is often a 40-degree rain in April,” Myatt writes. “But considering the recharging colder pattern ahead, I can’t say with any certainty that our region is entirely done with snow for the season, especially if you live on a high ridge away from the city.”
Bottom line?
“It is increasingly appearing as if this battle will continue into April, with reinforcing shots of colder air arriving after a brief warm-up this week.”
APCO still struggles to restore power to 18,902 homes in its region. More than a few of those outages remain in Floyd County, with concentrations near Pilot, Alum Ridge, Indian Valley and scattered areas where pockets have 20-30 homes still affected.
Estimates that some of those outages will continue until midnight Thursday or beyond leave homes without generators or other sources of alternate power searching for other locations to take showers, keep food frozen or fresh and have simple things like a working bathroom available.
Helpfully, the low temperatures this morning is 44 degrees on the thermometer on our back porch this morning at 4:00 a.m. and should climb above 50 by 8 a.m. and into the mid-60s by afternoon.
Thursday should bring highs in the low 70s with an overnight low of 72, then cools to the high 50s on Good Friday and a low of 32. A sunny Saturday looks to hit 60 or so with a low of 44 and 57 on Easter Sunday (which is also April Fool’s Day) but back in the 30s overnight as we head into a week of 50 degree days with rain and showers and lows in the 30s and 40s.
Rain should fall for most of the first 10 days of April so the old axiom of April showers could lead to May mud.
Could some of that precipitation turn to snow in April or May?
Anything is possible in the strange and unpredictable weather patterns of 2018.
1 thought on “Warmer days ahead but snow may not be finished with us”
I think that as so many people still do not have any electricity and for Floyd to not have opened even one Emergency Shelter is terrible. I don’t feel that Floyd is sufficiently looking for the safety of its residents. What is our Emergency Management Coordinator doing? Where is our Red Cross personnel? How is anyone planning to get word out to those without power? What is people can’t drive in this much snow, how would they get to a shelter? I’m disappointed at our response to the emergency.
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