It’s officially “heat in the morning and A/C in the afternoon” season!

Chilly mornings and warmer afternoons will take us through Thursday

Commute forecast for Tuesday 10/19/2021

ROANOKE, Va. – It’s another crisp, autumn morning in southwest and central Virginia. Patches of frost are possible, but most of the area begins the day in the 40s.

Similar to Monday, we’ll see wall-to-wall sunshine. Temperatures will respond to that, with highs in the mid to upper 60s in the higher elevations. Elsewhere, we’ll be in the low to mid 70s.

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High temperature forecast for Tuesday, 10/19/2021

A calmer wind throughout the day will set the stage for more cooling at night. Temperatures first thing Wednesday morning will be in the 40s.

Low temperature forecast for Wednesday morning, 10/20/2021

This is exactly the kind of weather we’ve needed to get the leaves to start changing. It’s been a very slow process, due to the fact that this October has been one of the warmest on record in our area (so far).

You still have to go higher in elevation and mostly close to the WV-VA line to see anything of substance.

Foliage report as of Monday night, 10/18/2021

High pressure stays in control of our weather through Wednesday and part of Thursday, leading to another round of afternoon warmth (highs mostly mid to upper 70s).

High pressure keeps sunshine and afternoon warmth around through Wednesday

A weak front gives us the chance for mostly mountain showers Thursday night into Friday morning.

A weak front brings mountain showers and a subtle dip in temperatures

We’ll be mostly dry by the time high school football games get started Friday evening. We’ll be dry and pleasant by late October standards for the Tech game Saturday too.

The forecast for Sunday and Monday is changeable at this point.

Where exactly our front goes determines a) how cold we get and b) whether or not there’s any showers.

Two possible scenarios with our next cold front for Sunday and Monday

We’ll keep you posted as forecast data paints a clearer picture in the coming days.


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.