Kevin Myatt is The Roanoke Times' weather columnist.

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Roanoke reached 91 degrees on Saturday, making it the first 90-degree April day in seven years.

The 90-degree mark had not been breached so early in the year since it hit 90 on April 16, 2002.

By contrast, Roanoke's first 90-degree reading in the following year, 2003, didn't happen until two months later, on June 25.

Even last year, Roanoke didn't reach 90 until June 4, the day after a small tornado passed through the city and the first day of a torrid weeklong run of highs mostly in the mid-90s. It didn't even reach 80 for the first time until April 11 in 2008.

Saturday's high matched the highest temperature of the entire year in 2004, which happened on Aug. 19 and 20. Saturday's high was also 3 degrees higher than Roanoke's normal high of 88 in late July and August, the peak of summer's heat.

By any measure, this weekend's heat was more like summer than midspring.

After a high of 89 on Sunday, expect two more days of summerlike temperatures before more springlike warmth in the 70s, accompanied by showers and thunderstorms, returns at midweek.