Rain, predicts the National Weather Service office in Blacksburg, arrives at 7:15 am Friday, first with showers, then rain and light rain with thunderstorms arriving around noon and sticking around, off and on, through the night and into Saturday with “scattered thunderstorms” (50 percent chance) and more so Sunday (100 percent).
Then, with luck, partly cloudy on Monday with just a 10 percent chance of wet stuff, sunny on Tuesday with zero percent chance and mostly cloudy Wednesday but still little chance of rain.
Then storms and showers Thursday and Friday with a possible break on Sunday and rain for the following week..
Temperatures projected in the high 50s and 60s with perhaps a slide into the 70s but don’t expect much chance to get out and catch any rays.
Hope everyone enjoyed the sun and decent weather earlier in the week. We don’t see much of it for the next two weeks.
Roanoke Times weather guru Kevin Myatt blames the mess on a couple of strong storm system stalling and messing up our weekend and beyond:
We already knew that Friday and Sunday were likely to be rainy, but dreams of a dry Saturday in between the storm systems are slipping away, too.
A powerhouse spring storm whipping a blizzard across the Northern Plains — including flood-ravaged Nebraska — is headed north-northeastward across the western Great Lakes into Canada tonight and Friday. That’s much too far away to have extreme effects on Southwest Virginia weather, but it will drag a cold front through on Friday, that will bring a round of rain, maybe a rumble or two thunder.
The Greenland blocking high is now in place, unfashionably late for all the snow lovers who sought its development during the winter, but it is coupled with a persistent ridge of high pressure off the southeast coast of the U.S. The result is a storm track that dips deep into the central states and then lifts to the northeast to our west. That wouldn’t have done much good for snow interests in winter and will result in repeated rain episodes now that it is April, with thunderstorms possible at times.
Here’s what the National Weather Service radar projects by 8:21 am:
Let’s look at the bright side.
The Midwest is under attack with snow, ice, massive power outages and blocked, dangerous roads.
Winter Storm Wesley blew across several states Thursday, closing or delaying school for hours, knocking out power and snarling both interstate and air traffic.
Relief was on its way to some areas, though, as blizzard warnings were canceled in Colorado and Wyoming. All major highways were reopened in Wyoming and most of Colorado as well. Portions of the interstate remained closed Thursday night in Minnesota and Iowa.
Warnings continued Thursday evening from parts of northern Nebraska into much of South Dakota and portions of southeastern North Dakota and southwest Minnesota.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation was still advising motorists to stay off the roadways Thursday evening, as many were completely covered with ice, snow or slush. Interstate 94 was closed between Moorhead and Osakis. The Minnesota Twins postponed their Friday night season opener against the Detroit Tigers.
We could say a few other things about the weather but folks around here keep telling me to clean up my language.
Let’s just say “it’s wet” and its gonna stay that way for a while.