Cornershot

In the Roanoke Valley and Southwest Virginia, June used to be a glorious month for our climate, with clear sunny days, occasional soft spring showers and refreshing gentle breezes.

Now, approximately every 59 minutes we get a weather disaster somewhere in the area — sideways rains that carry semis right on down to the ocean, and biblical force winds that could blow Superman’s “S” off.

This year’s June brides have needed something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, a hard hat and a lifejacket.

Want to go out in the evening for a movie or ice cream? Don’t forget your lantern and hip waders.

Do you enjoy relaxing on your deck under the stars of a lovely June night? I hope you can see the stars through the thunder clouds, if your deck wasn’t pulverized by the latest perfect storm.

And to paraphrase Joyce Kilmer: “I think that I shall never see, a guided missile as scary as a flying tree.”

But, after the terrible storms fade, we are often gifted with a shimmering rainbow, an ageless symbol and a timeless reminder that the next typhoony/cyclotorna-twister/de-wretcho is no doubt headed our way.

Weather Journal

3 hours ago

1. 41-vehicle wreck ties up traffic Sunday on I-81 in Rockbridge County 

2. Virginia Tech football roster has holes on picture day

3. Medicare penalties hit hospitals in Roanoke, New River Valleys

4. Microfestivus beer event gets downtown Roanoke hopping 

5. McFarling: 2 little numbers are a big hurdle for Virginia Tech football 

6. DAN CASEY: Copter cost still stirring up dust

7. Arrest made in case of missing Nelson County teen

8. Roanoke farmers markets making local foods more accessible

9. Virginia attorney general's office grows under Ken Cuccinelli 

10. Man's drowning is 5th in Lynchburg area