New drought monitor
ROANOKE, Va. – The extreme drought (level 4) has grown since the last update...now encompassing more of the Southside (including now Martinsville) and Lynchburg (including now Lynchburg City) zones...and has even spread into Grayson Co. (including Galax).
We did get in on some beneficial rain over the last 5-7 days, but we need A LOT more. Reminder: data for the drought monitor is collected from Tuesday to Tuesday with the output coming on Thursday.
Tonight through Mother’s Day
Skies will continue to clear out nicely tonight and that will lead us to mainly sunny day on Friday. Also, it won’t be as cool with highs in the lower 70s.
We may see more cloud cover briefly late Friday night into early Saturday, otherwise increasing sunshine is in the forecast to start the weekend. And while a rogue shower cannot be ruled out, the vast majority of us will be dry on Saturday. And we will begin Mother’s Day dry too with sunshine. However, more clouds will move in after lunchtime leading to pop-up showers/storms forming later in the day. And that chance for hit-or-miss rain will continue into Sunday night.
It will warm up nicely this weekend, topping out in the mid-to-upper 70s on Saturday, climbing to around 80 on Sunday.
Next week’s outlook
We may begin Monday with some lingering showers, but we should dry out as the day goes on. And Tuesday looks dry at this point under partly to mostly sunny skies. But another disturbance may impact the area Wednesday, providing the chance for some showers and/or storms.
We will turn cooler early next week, dropping into the upper 60s to near 70. Early indications are we should warm up later next week once again.