ROANOKE, Va. – If you enjoyed the calm days this week try to spend some time outside on Friday. Temperatures are mild, winds are calm, and humidity is low making for great weather in this year’s Go Outside Festival.
If you’re a fan of cooler weather you don’t have long to wait. Temperatures drop by 20 degrees between Friday and the start of next week.
The first impact of the front is rainfall. Showers begin early on Saturday and continue into the afternoon. The heaviest rain falls mostly in the north.
By midnight showers are wrapping up with only bits and pieces left over on Sunday. We continue to dry out as the week goes on.
Rain totals are highest north of US-460, but it’s hard for any of us to see more than a quarter-inch of rain. While that means the flood risk is low it also means we don’t get enough water to really help our drought conditions.
The next big impact the front has is in temperature. We go from almost 80 on Friday to highs squarely in the 60s on Saturday with some even in the 50s on Sunday. Monday looks to be the coolest day ahead with most highs in the 50s and some in the 40s.
The last piece of the front’s impact is wind. Breezes gust to 30 mph after the front is through. That is calmer than some of our winds so far this season, but get ready for morning wind chill.
The cooler air and rain help keep pollen levels very low. If you’re spending time outside on Friday you don’t have much to deal with, and rainy days like Saturday always do a good job preventing allergens from spreading.
Halloween is less than three weeks away. An average afternoon on October 31st has highs in the mid-60s which is quite a bit warmer than what we have early next week. These cooler fall temperatures will make it more difficult to reach the 70s again later in the week.