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Smoke remains for some ahead of a soaking rain Tuesday...FINALLY

Parts of the area will see an inch of rain Tuesday - for the first time in nearly three months

ROANOKE, Va. – The Matts Creek fire continues to burn and spread on the Bedford-Rockbridge County line Tuesday morning.

Smoke from the fire is stagnant in the lowest layers of the atmosphere. You’ll notice that in parts of the Roanoke Valley, along with parts of Craig, Alleghany, Rockbridge and Bedford Counties Tuesday morning.

By the afternoon, a shift in the wind will bring most of the smoke and poor air quality into northern Botetourt, southern Rockbridge, Alleghany and southern Bath Counties.

Smoke tracker for Monday afternoon, 11/20/2023

Monday will be a cooler and dry day with highs in the 50s. Cooler air will continue to seep into the region at night.

High temperature forecast for Monday, 11/20/2023

Then, we FINALLY get a widespread, soaking rain Tuesday. Periods of rain will go on from early morning and into the night. Now, there will be some dry periods, but we’d expect the radar to fill back in.

Some heavy pockets will be possible, especially during the second half of the day.

This amounts to most of the area seeing anywhere from 1-3″ of rain. That’s huge!

Projected rain totals for Tuesday, 11/21/2023

We need 4-8″ in a four-week time frame to eliminate the drought, so this is a nice step in the right direction. The last time we saw 1″ of rain in a single day was shortly after Labor Day.

Last time we saw widespread rain

Some showers may linger east of the Roanoke Valley into Wednesday, but Thanksgiving Day looks beautiful.

Thanksgiving "weekend" forecast - 2023

A few showers will be possible Black Friday, but the overall pattern thousands of feet above us is disjointed. The northern and southern pieces of the pattern need to be more connected/phased in order for widespread precipitation to happen.

Download our free weather app here to get updates on the forecast between now and the holiday weekend.


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