ROANOKE, Va. – Between multiple tropical systems and cut-off lows, it’s been a wet year in southwest and central Virginia.
With a little over two months left in the year, our four climate sites are sitting well above-average for rain. Anywhere from 43 to 53 inches has fallen since January 1. Lynchburg has been our wettest community and Danville has been the driest.
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Roanoke, Lynchburg and Blacksburg all sit in second place for rain year-to-date since records began in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Danville’s 2020 is a little lower on the list at 17th.
Remnant rain from tropical systems has played a big role in the high totals. Six such systems have soaked us: Bertha, Isaias, Laura, Sally, Beta and Delta. Each system lasted about a day and, on average, dropped 1-2″ per storm.
As you may have heard, we have even more remnant rain on the way after Zeta makes landfall on the Gulf Coast Wednesday.
Through Friday morning, we’re expecting 1-3″ of rain across most of the area, with perhaps some isolated higher amounts mixed in.
If our forecast verifies, Zeta’s rain would be enough to get Roanoke and Lynchburg into the top spot for rain year-to-date. It would also vault Danville into the top ten. Stay tuned!