ROANOKE, Va. – It’s another cold start in the neighborhood, but we’re thankful the wind chill isn’t quite the factor it was first thing Monday morning. The wind won’t be completely still Tuesday, but it will be a vast improvement to what we’ve seen the past two days.
Sustained wind speeds will range from 5 to 15 mph throughout the day.
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This breeze out of the west will help to warm things up. After starting with clouds near and east of the Parkway first thing in the morning, we all break out into sunshine and highs in the upper 50s to lower 60s.
The jet stream will continue to retreat northward throughout the week. This will take the bulk of the cold back to Canada, reduce rain chances for us and also keep the wind from getting very strong. Temperatures later this week into next week will stay above average as a result.
Meanwhile, a devastating situation is unfolding in parts of Central America (especially Nicaragua and Honduras). Hurricane Eta has undergone rapid intensification. It’s the 9th storm and 5th straight storm to do so this season. As of 1 a.m. Tuesday, its central wind speed went up by 80 mph in a span of 24 hours.
Now on the brink of Cat 5 status, it is poised to make landfall in Nicaragua. This will bring life-threatening wind, storm surge and flooding along with landslides.
This storm will have a long life-span, as it emerges from Central America and back into the Caribbean this weekend. Where exactly it goes beyond that is to-be-determined. If we were to see any impact from it, it might not be until the middle of the month.