ROANOKE, Va. – We’re tracking a storm system that will bring the chance of a severe weather outbreak to the Deep South/Gulf Coast Wednesday.
This will gobble up a lot of the energy needed for rain locally, leaving us with isolated rain showers at best.
The chance for rain starts to go up Thursday, and it comes in waves.
Some stronger storms will be possible during the evening, but that’s conditional. It depends on how much instability (warmth and humidity at the surface) is available after prior rounds of rain.
Some rounds of rain will be around at the bus stop Thursday, and they’ll also be around at lunch time.
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If we can get enough instability, thunderstorms would ride southwest to northeast between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. Thursday. Localized wind damage would be the main thing to watch for in any stronger cell that develops.
Once this front passes, we’ll have isolated showers around Friday. The wind will be the bigger story.
Gusts of 40 to 50 mph will be possible in the Roanoke Valley and along the Southern Blue Ridge. The wind will stay gusty into Saturday before backing off a little bit Sunday.
The wind Sunday, however, comes down the mountains and warms us up. This kicks off a warming trend that will last us into much of next week.