ROANOKE, Va. – Thursday was the first 80° day of the year in Roanoke and Danville. While it won’t be quite that warm Friday, it’ll still be warm enough.
This comes even as clouds continue to spread over the region. A dying cluster of showers and storms may bring isolated morning showers. The better chance, however, comes between roughly 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., according to the latest short-term and high-resolution forecast data.
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Once this first front passes, we’ll turn drier for the weekend. We won’t notice a sharp cool-down just yet. In fact, Saturday looks great for everything from the Maple Festival to St. Paddy’s Day events to the races at Bristol Motor Speedway.
St. Patrick’s Day itself will start out cooler, but we’ll see highs rebound into the 60s under a mostly cloudy sky.
Our second cold front then brings a drop in temperatures early next week. We’re talking highs in the 50s and lows in the 20s and 30s.
It may seem ironic that this comes ahead of the official start of spring, but understand that frost and freezing temperatures do still happen this time of year.
It’ll be too windy for frost Tuesday morning, but it’ll be plenty cold. Some patchy frost will be possible next Wednesday and Thursday mornings.
Those afternoons then see temperatures rising into the 50s and 60s.