ROANOKE, Va. – It’s been a calm week of weather thus far in southwest and central Virginia. That continues Wednesday with a partly to mostly cloudy sky overhead. Temperatures reach seasonable levels in the afternoon Wednesday before rising more Thursday.
That’s due to a breeze out of the south ahead of some rain and storms.
These arrive around and after suppertime in areas west of US 220 (Martinsville-Rocky Mount-Roanoke-Fincastle-Covington) Thursday.
A line or broken line of heavy rain and gusty wind moves east from there throughout the evening. Some isolated thunderstorms will be embedded within this area of rain.
The heaviest of the rain will be east of our area by around midnight, but some light rain showers will be around still.
It’ll take some time for colder air to press forward.
Once it does so, the upslope snow will get going. Some snow showers and scattered areas of sleet will spill over the mountains at times Friday.
The bulk of accumulation will be on our favored west-facing slopes.
Given the scattered nature of anything outside of that, we’ve put parts of the New River Valley and Highlands in the 0-1″ range of snow. Understand that means some in that area see nothing on the ground, while others could see up to an inch.
The most widespread thing we feel will be the return of colder air Friday and Saturday, along with strong wind gusts at times.
At their strongest, gusts will be between 30 and 40 mph in parts of the New River Valley, Roanoke Valley and Highlands.