ROANOKE, Va. – If you step out the door early this morning, you’ll notice the chill of autumnal air that is locked in the region. In fact, the New River Valley, Highlands and Botetourt County are all under a frost advisory until 9 a.m.
Consider an extra warm cup of coffee to get this first weekend of October started.
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Fall festivals in Wytheville, Christiansburg, Vinton and Rustburg are all happening this weekend. If any of those are part of your Saturday plans, you’ll want to pack a jacket plus the sunglasses as we expect sunny and cool conditions.
You may consider going for a drive to check out early fall foliage displays. We’ll see the best colors in the New River Valley and Highlands this weekend. Some patches of color are starting to show up in the Roanoke Valley and along the Blue Ridge. We’re not seeing much change yet in Lynchburg or Southside.
Highs this afternoon reach the low to upper 60s across the area. This is a big change from last year, when we were in the midst of an early fall heatwave! Last year on October 3, Roanoke hit a high of 98 degrees. Today, we’re only forecasting a peak of 66 degrees.
Temperatures are expected to gradually warm up from here. Each morning over the next few days should be warmer than this morning and eventually, we’ll see highs back in the 70s during the work week. For perspective, our average high this time of year in Roanoke is 72 degrees.
It’s a pretty quiet week with regards to rain chances, although a front could bring a few showers to the mountains late Sunday into Monday morning. If you live in Lynchburg or Southside, there’s a chance you don’t see rain at all over the next week.