ROANOKE, Va. – High pressure over the Plains keeps the heat reinforced Thursday and Friday. Similar to the last few days, we’ll see highs in the upper 80s and lower 90s in the New River Valley and low to mid 90s elsewhere.
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The humidity will be a little more present than it was Wednesday, so expect the heat index to approach 100° in parts of the area. That’s especially the case east of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Make sure you’re taking breaks, seeking shade and A/C and drinking plenty of water/electrolytes.
A front to the north will spark more showers and storms. Some of these will move into areas north of US 460 after 9 p.m. Thursday. The heat will add a little ‘umph’ to any storms that do survive into the area.
By Friday, we’ll still be hot. A northwest breeze, however, will drop humidity levels gradually throughout the day.
The humidity stays low Saturday. It’s possible that a northeast wind wedges in some cooler air during the day. Since that’s only shown up once in the forecast data, however, we’ll keep temperatures in the low to mid 80s with a partly cloudy sky for now.
Our front lifts north a bit, providing us with the chance for Saturday night/Sunday showers and storms.
As the jet stream continues to dig deeper to the south, we wind up pulling more moisture into the region. This means a higher chance for rain next Tuesday and Wednesday with highs struggling to get out of the 70s.
The Climate Prediction Center outlook shows that much of the first week of August will be below-average, temperature-wise.