Monday, November 02, 2009
Weather columnist Kevin Myatt: It sounds flaky, but Roanoke has gotten snow before Blacksburg
Kevin Myatt is The Roanoke Times' weather columnist.
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- 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
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A typo led me to an interesting question.
In Friday's Weather Journal column, a "1" was inadvertently left out in my projected date for Roanoke's first snowfall of at least 1 inch. What made it into print was a projection of Roanoke's first 1-inch snowfall on Dec. 3 (not Dec. 13 as I intended) and Blacksburg's on Dec. 4.
I would never intentionally project Roanoke's first significant snow ahead of Blacksburg's, even by a day.
But it begs the question: Has Roanoke ever gotten its first snow of 1 inch or more before Blacksburg in any season?
A few minutes of research provided at least three examples of just that.
n In 1957, Roanoke got an inch of snow on Oct. 27 and then 2 inches on Nov. 23. Blacksburg's first inch of snow fell two months later, on Jan. 24, 1958, when both sites got 4 inches.
n In 1970, Roanoke got 2 inches on Nov. 4 and again on Dec. 16. Blacksburg did not crack an inch until just barely doing so on Dec. 31 -- when Roanoke got 9 inches. (Blacksburg caught up some with 5 inches on the first day of 1971, while Roanoke got no additional snow.)
n On Nov. 26, 1978, Roanoke got 2 inches of snow. Blacksburg's first inch of snow didn't happen until Jan. 6, 1979.
You still can enter the 2009-10 snowfall prediction contest through Friday. Send your guesses for the date of first 1-inch snowfall and total snowfall for the season (Nov. 15 to April 15) in both Roanoke and Blacksburg to weather@roanoke.com, along with your name and location (city, town or county section -- or school if a student).
Weather Journal runs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
