ROANOKE, Va. – New Year’s Eve starts with areas of dense fog. It takes a little extra time for these foggy spots to clear this time of year, due to the low sun angle. Once that happens, however, temperatures rise into the 60s again.
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We’re not expecting much issue throughout the day or night other than a stray shower or two. For those who plan on ringing in the New Year outdoors, there may be a few showers around midnight.
The better chance arrives overnight, with the chance for a few stronger storms as you get closer to the West Virginia-Virginia line. Rain chances are highest in the morning Saturday near/north of U.S. 460.
As a warm front lifts north and the wind increases from the south, we expect near-record warmth in parts of the area New Year’s Day. Temperatures reach the 70s for areas near and east of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
This all comes ahead of a strong cold front that produces an ‘Enhanced’ threat for severe weather in the Tennessee River Valley on New Year’s Day.
Here at home, rain and storm chances increase late Saturday night into Sunday morning. Rain totals will be on the order of 0.5 to 1.5″, which we could certainly use.
As our cold front passes through, temperatures drop from the 60s in the morning to the 40s and 50s (depending on elevation) by the afternoon. The only place where that may not happen is around Southside.
A piece of upper level energy trails this front and produces the chance for light snow accumulations Sunday evening in higher elevations west of the Parkway.
Otherwise, winter chill finally returns by January 3rd. Highs will be in the 40s despite sunshine. We’ll fall into the teens and 20s by next Tuesday morning.