ROANOKE, Va. – Weather conditions have calmed this Saturday morning, as the front that caused severe storms Friday is now to our east.
We’ll heat up from the 60s and 70s in the morning to the 80s and 90s once again this afternoon. We have lots of sunshine in our forecast and any isolated storms that do develop are likely to stay in the mountains. I believe the Roanoke Valley, Lynchburg and Southside stay completely dry today.
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Storm chances increase by Sunday afternoon as another front approaches the region. Any storms that form will have the opportunity to strengthen in the unstable, hot and humid air.
The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has placed areas along and west of the Blue Ridge under a level 1 (”marginal”) severe weather risk Sunday. We’re watching damaging wind gusts as the primary threat, just as they were on Friday.
After that front, the heat will really skyrocket and become an even bigger weather story. We’re in the low 90s Monday and Tuesday, but the mid 90s will be possible Wednesday as the upper level ridge sets up over the eastern United States. For perspective, our average high is in the upper 80s in July.
We could go even hotter in the longer term as the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) has our area under a 70% chance of above-average temperatures from July 16th to the 20th. Early model data is hinting at the upper 90s, but when you factor in the humidity, we’ll likely see “feels like” temperatures reach the triple digits.