Roanoke, VA – The heat wave last week definitely had a negative impact on this week’s drought update. With the scorching temperatures came increased evaporation rates, leading to parts of Southside and the New River Valley worsening in conditions.
We did see improvements in the Richmond Metro area, which was expected given the several showers and storms that seemingly stalled out over the region, which led to numerous flash flood alerts.
For us however, we didn’t see any notable improvements. If you look at major bodies of water such as Carvins Cove, you’ll see vastly lower conditions than what is normal. The Western Virginia Water Authority actually implemented voluntary water conservation measures for the Roanoke Valley to account with this. Areas under these measures include the City of Roanoke, Counties of Roanoke, Franklin, and Botetourt, and the Towns of Boones Mill and Vinton.
There is some hope though for slight improvement, as rain from the last two days will certainly help next week’s outlook, as will the chances of rain for the next few days