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Happy Monday and welcome to another edition of Beyond The Forecast!

Rain wraps up just in time for the start of the new year

Sunshine brings temperatures into the 60s for the last workday of 2022

ROANOKE, Va. – 2020 has been a hard year for many Americans. Thankfully, visitors of a Roanoke entertainment center got to close the book on the year a few hours early. The Skate Center of Roanoke Valley hosted an early New Year’s Eve balloon drop. General manager Chris Conner said the balloon drop has been a tradition at the roller skating rink for nearly 40 years, but it means a little bit more this year. It used to be a bigger nighttime event, now it’s a bigger daytime event with families.”The Skate Center canceled its nighttime balloon drop on New Year’s Eve this year.

Twisted Track Brewpub welcomed people ready to put 2020 behind them with live music and ample outdoor seating. The brewpub just opened to the public a month ago, and co-owner Will Landry said he’s blessed the business could bloom in a year that claimed so many Roanoke-area restaurants. “This has been far and away more of a positive response than we could have imagined,” Landry said. Despite the early closure, guests such as Jordyn Jones were happy to leave 2020 in the past however they could. I didn’t think this year would ever end, so it’s good to move into a new year.”

Personal chef Jill Aker-Ray says food is often believed to be the way to good luck and fortune. Some cultures have a smashing good time when seeking out their fortune. “In Greek culture pomegranates at the stroke of midnight are pummeled at the front door of the home. Soba noodles are the New Year’s food of choice in Asian cultures, where slurping the noodles without breaking them is said to bring good luck. Spaniards prefer grapes, popping one at each stroke of midnight representing the months of the year.