Temperatures Sunday afternoon 20-25° cooler for most

Gusty wind, cooler air move in for second half of the weekend

ROANOKE, Va. – Temperatures the last two days have soared into the 70s for almost the entire region. We'll have to put that on hold for now, though, as a cold front moves through the area Sunday morning.

Recommended Videos



This front does three things for our region: 1) provides the chance for scattered showers early Sunday, 2) allows the wind to pick up and 3) drops temperatures.

Don't expect Sunday to be a washout. The energy needed for scattered rain showers passes through overnight into the early part of Sunday morning. The chance for any showers around breakfast and/or church time looks to be mainly in Southside or Lynchburg. 

Behind the front, the wind picks up again especially west of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Wind speeds, sustained, will be anywhere from 10-25 mph with gusts even higher than that at times. We don't anticipate it getting that gusty in Lynchburg or Southside.

What that wind will do, however, is blow in some colder air. While highs tomorrow will be in the upper 50s and low 60s, that will come between midnight and 3 a.m. for most of us.

Afternoon temperatures will run about 20-25° colder for most of the region.

The wind slowly calms down late Sunday night and Monday morning, allowing temperatures to drop into the 20s to near 30. We're sunny and in the 50s Monday, before Tuesday's system becomes of more interest. 

We've spoken about this one the last few days, and how the path would ultimately determine what we get. Most forecast data wants to take an area of low pressure toward the east coast. The farther south and east it goes, the lesser chance we have of any precipitation. We'd just be cloudy and cool.

If it were to shift closer to I-95, however, then we'd see a cold rain with even a few snowflakes west of I-81. 

We'll keep an eye on any chance of a subtle shift, but at the moment - we're becoming more optimistic on Tuesday's outlook. Spring returns afterward!


About the Author:

Meteorologist Chris Michaels is an American Meteorological Society (AMS) Certified Broadcaster, forecasting weather conditions in southwest Virginia on WSLS 10 News from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. weekdays on Virginia Today.