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Current Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Temperature: 79°F Wind: From the CALM at 0 mph Relative Humidity: 62% |
Extended Forecast Driving Conditions Vacation Planner Weather Alerts Air Quality |
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SUN Scattered Thunderstorms 66°F...82°F |
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MON Isolated Thunderstorms 67°F...86°F |
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TUE Partly Cloudy 69°F...89°F |
Latest entries from the Weather Journal blog
About Kevin
Kevin Myatt grew up in Arkansas to the tune of tornado sirens and the rhythm of hailstones, aspiring to be a meteorologist before his studies and career were turned to journalism instead. Though he often chases storms, he prefers living in the cooler, more tranquil weather of the Blue Ridge. He moved to Roanoke in 1999 to take a job on the copy desk of The Roanoke Times; writing headlines and editing copy is his principal work for the newspaper today.
Each May, Kevin assists Pulaski County High School / Virginia Tech meteorology instructor Dave Carroll in leading college and high school students to the Plains to observe severe weather firsthand. The accounts of many of his storm chases can be found here on the storm chasing page of his weather blog on roanoke.com.
Kevin was an editor for "Hurricanes and the Middle Atlantic States," a book written by D.C.-area weather enthusiast Rick Schwartz and published by Blue Diamond Books that documents hurricanes striking the mid-Atlantic states since colonial times.
The Weather Journal column began in 2003 and appears on Friday's Virginia section front in The Roanoke Times. The Weather Journal blog began in 2006 and follows weather day-by-day between the larger columns.
Recent rains were a blessing, but not enough to offset long-term shortfall
By Kevin Myatt
The Roanoke Times
What does it take to get an inch of rain in Roanoke these days?
The Roanoke Regional Airport received .57 inch before midnight Sunday and .42 inch after midnight, for a total of .99 inch over the weekend.
Roanoke has not officially received at least an inch of rain in any 24-hour period -- or in any 48-hour period -- since Oct. 26, the last of a three-day period that produced more than 5 inches in Roanoke.
A rain a single-hundredth short of an inch was still helpful, especially coming only a day separated from getting .78 inch on Thursday. Even though we largely missed a couple of forecasted shots of rain in the middle, most of Southwest Virginia got 1 to 3 inches during the past four days.
But we're still about 4 inches below normal for the year to date, and the three years before have each come in 3 to 12 inches below normal.
So the weekend rain was certainly a blessing, but still not a cure for long-term dryness. That will only come when a regular pattern of frequent rains, similar to this weekend's, sets in.
There's no sign of that happening soon; only light amounts of rain are expected early this week. The Climate Prediction Center projects drier than normal weather over most of the nation during the next two weeks.
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