Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Weather columnist Kevin Myatt: 70-degree temperature leap can't last
Kevin Myatt is The Roanoke Times' weather columnist.
kevin.myatt
@roanoke.com
981-3341
Weather with Kevin Myatt
Recent columns
- We got graupel, but not on official record
- Moisture could get caught up in cold blast
- Forecast for Weather Journal: Partly print, with frequent Internet
- Column archive
Read the Weather Journal blog
- Sprinkles or flurries possible Tuesday, but maybe something bigger for the weekend?
- For now, it looks like a quiet, mostly mild week ahead for SW Virginia
- Coldest morning of winter so far likely across much of Southwest Virginia; Tuesday precipitation looking doubtful
- Weather Journal blog
#swvawx on Twitter
@KevinMyattWx
It felt like we jumped right from winter to summer last week.
Statistically, those feelings were accurate.
On Tuesday morning (March 3), Roanoke's low temperature was 13 degrees. On Saturday afternoon (March 7), Roanoke's high was 83 degrees.
That 70-degree shift in four days represents a jump from being 12 degrees colder than the normal low at the peak of January chill to the normal high temperature for mid-June.
Blacksburg also made a 70-degree shift in four days, vaulting from 6 to 76.
One question I would like to delve into a little deeper is whether such a 70-degree margin over four days has precedent in the recorded weather history of Southwest Virginia.
Winter periods moving quickly from the teens to low 70s, or vice versa, in a few days happen every few years. But to leap from the teens to the 80s so quickly is extremely rare.
The pendulum is set to swing back the other direction. Expect below-normal temperatures starting this weekend and stretching toward the middle of next week.
But it probably won't plummet 70 degrees.
