STOP RAINING! Localized flooding a concern as rounds of showers, storms continue

Rounds of scattered showers and storms the next three days will continue to produce localized flooding

Storm threats Thursday afternoon and evening

ROANOKE, Va. – Since Sunday, a large chunk of our viewing area has seen one-to-two months’ worth of rain...again!

Estimated rainfall since Sunday

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A lot of that fell Wednesday, with creeks in the New River Valley and rivers in Southside and the Roanoke Valley continuing to flood into Thursday. To date, this has now been the wettest year on record in the Roanoke Valley. Areas like the New River Valley and Lynchburg are well within the Top 10 for their wettest years on record (through mid-June).

Wettest years through June 17th

With a pesky area of low pressure thousands of feet above us, we still are going to see rounds of scattered showers and storms Thursday, Friday and Saturday. These will all move rather slowly from southwest to northeast, which is bad news.

FutureTracker - Thursday afternoon

Our ground is so water-logged that anything that develops will produce a localized flood threat. It won’t be until late Saturday and Father’s Day that this low pressure system is finally given the boot.

At this point, the weather pattern turns more ‘zonal,' or in this case, ‘typical.'

Upper air pattern by Father's Day 2020

Gradually, we’ll notice temperatures creeping upward. Thursday won’t be quite as cool as recent days. Friday, will be a touch warmer and ditto for Saturday. By Father’s Day and early next week, highs will be around 85-90° with the daily shot for hit-or-miss showers and storms.

5-day high temperature trend

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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.