Kevin Myatt is The Roanoke Times' weather columnist.

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After a breezy chill today, the remaining days of 2011 will feature above-normal temperatures but likely not extreme warmth, with highs mostly in the 50s and lows in the 30s.

That is an appropriate stretch to end a year that will finish among the warmest on record at both Roanoke and Blacksburg, not because of waves of extreme heat, but rather consistent above-average temperatures.

2011 appears nearly certain to conclude tied as Roanoke's third-warmest year on record, based on average temperature, dating back a full century to 1912, while it will be the fifth-warmest in Blacksburg, dating to 1953.

Roanoke's annual temperature through Monday was 58.8 degrees, and it looks unlikely this will shift significantly in the final days of the year. That would tie 2011 with 1933 and 1998 for the third-warmest year. Blacksburg, meanwhile, has an annual average temperature of 54 degrees, and its fifth-place ranking would not change even if it did shift a decimal place, which is mathematically unlikely.

It shouldn't be too surprising that this year ranks so highly, considering the second-hottest summer on record occurred at both Roanoke and Blacksburg, and that five months at Roanoke and seven at Blacksburg rank among the 10 warmest on record.

Unlike 2010, when January, February and December were abnormally cold and partially offset the hottest summer on record, 2011 did not have many unseasonably cool stretches. January was the only month averaging more than a degree below normal at both Roanoke and Blacksburg.

Nationally, late spring and summer were dominated by a large high pressure system over the central United States, bringing record heat and drought to many locations in the southern Plains states. That high expanded and contracted a few times during the summer, pushing hot, dry weather to the east with each expansion.

Our summer warmth was driven primarily by high overnight low temperatures rather than scorching daytime highs. Roanoke never hit 100 degrees, officially, on any day this past summer.

Much of fall and winter has seen no return to the atmospheric patterns that focused Arctic air in the eastern U.S. in much of the past two winters. So we have seen lots of average to above-average temperatures, and it has gotten rather wet with a mild, moist flow from the Gulf of Mexico repeating itself several times.

While 2011 is ending mildly, there are growing indications that the new year will bring a return to colder weather for Southwest Virginia.

Weather Journal runs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.