Where this past week’s wet weather ranks in Southwest Virginia history

Our recent rains will go down in the record books for some area communities

Roanoke River crests at moderate flood stage

ROANOKE, Va. – As you know by now, it was a rain-drenched week in our corner of the Commonwealth as a stalled upper-level low pressure system sent rounds of rain through the area for days on end. Now that our skies have dried out, we can figure out where this week’s rains ranks in the record books.

Roanoke was one of the wettest communities this past week, with 9.26″ of rain falling from Monday through Friday. If we break that down to the wettest 3 day time period (Tuesday through Thursday), we find that it ranks as the 5th wettest stretch in the Star City since records started in 1912. The Flood of ’85 shows up on this list as well as an awfully wet stretch during August of 1940.

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Wettest 3 day periods in Roanoke (WSLS)

With all the rain this week, Roanoke is now experiencing one of its wettest Mays on record. This year currently ranks third, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see it end up in first place when the month is all said and done.

Wettest Mays on record in Roanoke (WSLS)

May 2020 in Blacksburg also ranks high on the list of wettest Mays, coming in 12th so far. Danville and Lynchburg were drier this past week, so this year is lower on the list in each of those communities.

Wettest May rankings (WSLS)