ROANOKE, Va. – Happy Thanksgiving! We’re thankful that, in the midst of all the chaos that 2020 has brought, the weather will be calm for us. We’ll start with a front passing through. This will bring some showers to the area early in the day. The last of the rain will be leaving Southside between 7 and 9 a.m.
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A wind out of the west will help push temperatures into the upper 60s to near 70° across most of the area. This will put us near record territory for warmest Thanksgiving in Blacksburg, Roanoke and Lynchburg.
We’ll still be relatively warm and dry on Black Friday, with highs around 55-60° Saturday and Sunday. This should make for a great weekend to do some decorating, if you’ve been holding off until after the turkey has its day.
Rain holds off for most of Sunday, but things turn very unsettled for us after that.
There are two branches of the jet stream that will converge over the Eastern U.S. early next week. The southern branch is responsible for heavy rain in parts of the area Monday. The northern branch is what will supply colder air and strong wind gusts, along with (mostly) mountain snow Tuesday.
As Gulf moisture gets drawn into the Eastern U.S., heavy rain and gusty wind will be possible Sunday night into Monday morning. Some thunderstorms will be possible, with the better chance being along and east of U.S. 29 at the moment.
As these two branches converge, we wind up getting cold air and strong wind gusts Tuesday and Wednesday. The upslope motion of the wind targets the west-facing slopes with several inches of snow. Parts of the New River Valley and Highlands could wind up with a light accumulation as well, given current forecast trends.
We’ll keep you posted, as these “upper level lows” are very tricky to forecast days in advance. Regardless of snow, it will get a lot colder and the wind will be howling at times.