COMING UP: 7:45 a.m. Weather Update โ March 13, 2023 | Southwest, Central Virginia
Many of us experienced a long-awaited snow day over the weekend. The slight snow wonโt be around for long though, with sunny weather right around the corner. As you head to work this morning, be sure to keep safety top of mind Monday given that isolated slick spots will be around.
Stay home! Significant ice accumulations from freezing rain, sleet possible today
ROANOKE, Va. โ Although we still have winter weather alerts in effect until tomorrow morning, the heaviest precipitation has moved out. A mix of freezing rain and sleet has been moving through Southside and the Lynchburg area for a few hours already. Thatโs where weโll see the most significant ice accumulations and biggest impacts from this storm. Winter weather advisories have been posted in these areas. The next opportunity for winter weather comes Monday night into Tuesday morning.
Beyond The Forecast: Cuddle alerts likely for your Valentineโs date night!
Itโs the season of love in Southwest and Central Virginia as Valentineโs Day is coming up this weekend. Before I get to the forecast, letโs take a look at the โweather extremesโ for the holiday in Roanoke. The coldest Valentineโs Day on record happened just five years ago! On the flip side, Cupid visited Roanoke Valley lovers in 1990 with 70+ degree warmth. This may surprise some of you, but Roanoke hasnโt been all that snowy on Valentineโs Day.
Despite clouds and snow, Phil sees shadow; predicts six more weeks of winter
โ As is the yearly custom, Punxsutawney Phil was awoken from his slumber at 7:25 a.m. Tuesday. After conferring with members of his inner circle, it was declared that he saw his shadow, thus predicting six more weeks of winter. It was the 105th time he saw his shadow, compared to 20 times he has predicted an early spring. Whether the shadow was produced by the sunโs rays or flashing camera bulbs is up for debate. Weather observations Tuesday morning at the nearby DuBois Regional Airport reveal that it was cloudy and snowing at the time of Philโs proclamation.
Beyond The Forecast: Diving into the history of Groundhog Day and the rodentโs weather predictions
Itโs officially a new month and weโre looking ahead to one of the more bizarre โholidaysโ we recognize each year: Groundhog Day. We can trace Groundhog Day back to the German holiday โCandlemasโ, which was celebrated on February 2 each year. The Pennsylvania Dutch were immigrants from Germanic-speaking areas of Europe and created the tradition of Groundhog Day. The average attendance for the groundhogโs prediction was 2,000 people up until Bill Murrayโs movie โGroundhog Dayโ debuted in 1993. According to AccuWeather, the groundhog is accurate 39% of the time with his weather predictions, worse than a coin flip and certainly much worse than Your Local Weather Authority.
Beyond The Forecast: Taking stock of winter thus far, plus an early look at Thursdayโs snow potential
That means itโs as good a time as any to take stock of the winter weโve had up to this point. There have been some blasts of frigid air, Christmas comes to mind for me, but overall, most of our region has been WARMER than average this winter. Blacksburg is the only climate site meeting its snowfall average to this point in winter. Hereโs our first call snowfall forecast. In addition to this shot at snow, thereโs another opportunity for wintry weather in the forecast over the weekend!
Beyond The Forecast: 2020 was a record year for weather disasters in the US
Weโre ten days into the new year and I know everyone is hoping to close the book on 2020 for good. I do want to take one more look back at the wild weather the United States dealt with last year. 22 different weather events caused at least $1 billion in damage, a new record. The disasters caused a total of $95 billion in damages and killed 262 people. The number of billion-dollar disasters in 2020 nearly quadrupled the 30-year average.