Strong system sends rain and storms through the area this weekend

Risk for severe weather shifts to our region by Sunday morning

This weekend's severe storm threat (Copyright 2021 by WSLS 10 - All rights reserved.)

ROANOKE, Va. – We ended the work week with warm sunshine and it appears this morning’s weather will be pretty pleasant. Look for temperatures in the 50s, along with mostly sunny skies to start the day.

As a warm front approaches the area, we’ll quickly see some changes by midday and especially during the afternoon. Clouds will increase and rain could start as early as 1 or 2 p.m.

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It’s doubtful we’ll see any big impacts from this first round and it will taper off during the evening.

Future Tracker Saturday 5 p.m. (Copyright 2021 by WSLS 10 - All rights reserved.)

I think we get a break from the rain overnight, but it will quickly redevelop Sunday morning as a cold front approaches the area.

Future Tracker Sunday 10 a.m. (Copyright 2021 by WSLS 10 - All rights reserved.)

As the front pushes through, thunderstorms could strengthen and you will want multiple ways to receive severe weather warnings.

The Storm Prediction Center has our area under a Level 2 (”slight”) risk for severe storms Sunday. The primary threat appears to be damaging wind gusts, but other forms of severe weather like tornadoes and large hail are also possible.

Sunday's storm threats (Copyright 2021 by WSLS 10 - All rights reserved.)

I’m not overly concerned about the threat for localized flooding tomorrow. That’s due to the fact that we’re still at a substantial deficit for rain in March.

Look for a half an inch of rain or more west of the Blue Ridge this weekend, with lower totals expected east.

Rainfall forecast through Sunday (Copyright 2021 by WSLS 10 - All rights reserved.)

While we won’t be as warm as Friday, temperatures this weekend will run pretty comfortably both days. We expect highs in the 60s and 70s area-wide.

Sunday’s cold front triggers a cool down to late March averages to start the work week. There could be a more substantial cool down later in the week, we’ll be fine-tuning details on that one in the coming days.

Forecast highs next 7 days (Copyright 2021 by WSLS 10 - All rights reserved.)

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