ROANOKE, Va. – We are tracking slightly warmer temperatures for the next couple of days, and plenty of sunshine! As we head into the weekend, there will be noticeable changes to the pattern.
Tuesday morning shapes up really nicely as clear skies will be overhead with temperatures in the 60s and 70s.
By the afternoon, a lot of us are into the 80s. This is more seasonable for the time of year as our average high is 82 degrees. Areas along the Blue Ridge will be slightly cooler.
The latest advisory for Tropical Storm Francine came out at 5 a.m. Tuesday morning. Francine is expected to strengthen into a Category 2 hurricane before making landfall along the Gulf Coast.
For further updates, visit the National Hurricane Center.
The storm will interact with an upper-level jet stream that will weaken it around the time of landfall. Depending on the timing of interaction, this could be a good thing for the Gulf Coast.
Earlier interaction would mean an earlier weakening. A later interaction would have little influence on the areas near landfall, but would lessen impacts for those further inland.
Rainfall will be a big factor with this storm as some areas along the Gulf Coast are expected to receive 6-12 inches of rain. Neighboring areas around the southeast and even the mid-Atlantic will see upwards of an inch of rain.
Climatological speaking, this time of year is very active. In fact, Tuesday is the peak average of Hurricane Season with the most amount of named storms and hurricanes being present on average.
Francine will eventually make its way up into the mid-west and bring impacts as far east as the mid-Atlantic. What this means for our neck of the woods is an increase in cloud cover and rain showers as we head into the weekend.
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