Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Weather columnist Kevin Myatt: The heat is ... off
After sweating out an unseasonable heat wave in the past week, the Roanoke area is poised to return closer to normal.
Photos by SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times
JoAnne Dooley cools herself in front of a fan at Hall's Grocery in Roanoke. The shop's air conditioner broke recently, so employees and customers were feeling the heat, which has been 11 to 15 degrees warmer than the norms for early June.
A thermometer on a sign on Electric Road in Roanoke County registers a temperature in the 90s early Tuesday afternoon. A couple of days recently matched or exceeded record highs.
Kevin Myatt is The Roanoke Times' weather columnist.
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The past week's heat wave has made some history. Starting today, it will be exactly that ... history.
A weak cold front pushed into the area Tuesday night, triggering some showers and thunderstorms. The front is just strong enough to nudge aside a strong area of high pressure that has brought searing heat to Southwest Virginia since last Wednesday.
It won't really get "cold" behind the front, but the rest of the week will feature much more typical weather for early to mid June: humid afternoons with highs in the 80s and scattered thunderstorms.
Even by early August standards, the last week would have been a notable heat wave for Southwest Virginia.
At the peak of summer's heat in late July and early August, Roanoke's normal high temperature is 87 degrees.
Since last Wednesday, Roanoke has had highs ranging from 92 to 96 each day -- 11 to 15 degrees warmer than the norms for early June. A couple of days matched or exceeded record highs dating to the early 20th century, and four of the muggy mornings established new records for warmth.
With temperatures in the upper 80s and low 90s, Blacksburg set or tied record highs on five consecutive days from Wednesday through Sunday. Friday became the earliest date on record, going back to 1953, that Blacksburg hit 90 degrees.
There is no immediate sign that extreme heat will move back into the area for any extended period of time in the foreseeable future. In fact, the Climate Prediction Center is projecting an area of below-normal temperatures over the Northeast to build southward almost far enough to cover us eight to 14 days out.
Some 90-degree weather is certainly possible during the next week or two, but record highs and lengthy heat waves appear unlikely.
It's too early to focus precisely on such forecasting details so many days out, let alone whether this heat wave was an aberration or will be repeated in the summer ahead.
