ROANOKE, Va. – THURSDAY 2:15 A.M. UPDATE
The worst of the weather overnight is staying south and west of our area.
2:00 A.M. UPDATE - Good (early) morning. I've been in the office the past half hour looking at some data. Worst of the weather the rest of the morning stays south of here. Any storms late Thursday afternoon/evening look isolated and mainly north/east of the Roanoke Valley. pic.twitter.com/LnNaDmh1G5
— Chris Michaels (@WSLS_Michaels) May 9, 2024
Therefore, Your Local Weather Authority is allowing the Weather Authority Alert Day to expire.
There will be isolated storms late afternoon into the evening Thursday, and these will mostly favor areas east of the Roanoke Valley.
A rogue severe thunderstorm warning or two will be possible near and east of Lynchburg, but we don’t feel this is enough to warrant an Alert Day for the entire viewing area.
WEDNESDAY 9:30 P.M. UPDATE
A Weather Authority Alert Day is in effect tonight into tomorrow as we track a powerful system moving from the west to the east.
Chief Meteorologist Jeff Haniewich is here to time out our rain and storm chances, and let you know when cooler air arrives.
WEDNESDAY 1:00 PM UPDATE
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center has shifted the heightened threat for severe weather south of the Roanoke Valley.
This coincides with what we said in our 12:00 PM update below.
WEDNESDAY 12:00 PM UPDATE
Multiple clusters of showers and storms are riding an “outflow boundary” over Tennessee. We explain what this means in this brief video below.
The timing/severity of storms today will depend partially on what's called "outflow boundaries."
— Chris Michaels (@WSLS_Michaels) May 8, 2024
Given what we're seeing, I could see some scattered showers storms mostly south of the Roanoke Valley after 11a. A cluster of stronger storms to the west will be possible after 10pm. pic.twitter.com/nai9em1HyV
It’s for this reason that we think severe weather will break out in areas like middle Tennessee. However, closer to home, the chance for any stronger thunderstorms will be more scattered in areas mostly south of Roanoke.
The timing for severe weather potential looks to be between 10 p.m. Wednesday and 4 a.m. Thursday.
WEDNESDAY 7:30 A.M. UPDATE
Meteorologist Chris Michaels times out when those storms could move through our region and shares the best day to get mom outside this Mother’s Day Weekend.
WEDNESDAY A.M. UPDATE
A cluster of storms over the Ohio River Valley is weakening as it moves from north to south, but it may still result in some scattered showers and rumbles of thunder before midday Wednesday. We do not expect these to be severe/damaging.
Much of the day is very warm and humid, but storm-free. The stormiest weather, as we’ve said all along, comes late Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
Keep reading below for more information on this Weather Authority Alert Day.
TUESDAY NIGHT UPDATE
It’s quiet now, but 24 hours from now could be a different story.
A Weather Authority Alert Day has been issued for Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Chief Meteorologist Jeff Haniewich has the latest on what to expect.
TUESDAY P.M. UPDATE
A Weather Authority Alert Day is being issued for Wednesday night (May 8) through midday Thursday (May 9) due to the potential for strong to severe thunderstorms.
While a few isolated storms are forecast Tuesday, the coverage of storms is limited and doesn’t warrant an Alert Day.
Much of Wednesday afternoon will be hot and storm-free, though some non-severe storms will be possible in the morning.
The worst of the weather is expected to be Wednesday night, which is all the more reason to have ways to get weather alerts. Make sure you have alerts turned on too!
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After 8 or 9 p.m., a line of strong-to-severe storms will approach areas near and west of Interstate 77.
The main concern with this line will be the potential for downed trees and/or power outages. Hail may also accompany the line, along with brief flooding. The threat for a tornado is low but not zero.
This line will zoom from west to east throughout the night into Thursday morning.
By commute time Wednesday, there may still be some areas of rain (not shown on FutureTracker), but we don’t expect them to be severe at that time.
This line of storms may very well take up a lot of energy and deprive us of the chance for additional storms Thursday afternoon. However, we will have a front moving into a warm and humid air mass, so we cannot rule out some stronger storms east of the Roanoke Valley Thursday afternoon.
This will more-or-less be a wait-and-see situation once the line passes through.