Kevin Myatt's Weather Wonders

11/12/2025

There is potential for the aurora borealis to again be visible in Virginia (more than just very remote places) again on this Wednesday night and perhaps later this week as a series of coronal mass ejections from the sun approach Earth. A couple photos from Tuesday night in this Cardinal News article.

Virginia’s northwest sky glowed red for a few hours on Tuesday night into early Wednesday. Additional auroras visible at our latitude are possible in the next few nights.

11/10/2025

Snow is here on this Monday, Nov. 10. Top video was outside my house south of Roanoke shortly after 7 a.m.. Bottom photo is from the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine campus at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Intermittent periods of snow today into this evening mainly west of the Blue Ridge but perhaps poking a little more eastward at times, especially this evening as an upper-level low barrels through. Accumulations of 1-4 inches in higher elevations west of Interstate 77 and near the Virginia-West Virginia border with streaky dustings to near 1 inch possible in some spots east to the Blue Ridge.

11/10/2025

MONDAY AM UPDATE ON SNOW linked here: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1EuUYAt9ab/

--

Many locations west of I-77 get some snow accumulation on Monday, and areas as far east as the Blue Ridge -- or even beyond -- may see some snowflakes blowing through the air into Monday evening. Take a quick look at an early but brief punch of winter in this Cardinal News article.

It’s a typical winter setup with Arctic air from the northwest lifting and condensing moisture over the mountains, but showing up a little earlier than we’ve seen lately.

11/06/2025

Some windy, warm weather on this Wednesday with a few brush fires around Southwest/Southside Virginia. A bit cooler the next couple of days, another warm spike on Saturday after some Friday night showers, then much colder early next week -- Monday will be like a January day with 30s-lower 40s highs and 20s lows. And quite a few places may see the first snowflakes of the season blowing over the mountains.

In this week's Cardinal Weather column, we're taking a break from current weather to look back 40 years this week at one of our region's deadliest and most destructive weather events, the Flood of 1985. Yes, Hurricane Juan was a contributor, but we don't call it the "Hurricane Juan flood" the way we call last year's Appalachian catastrophe "Helene." Be sure to check out the other three articles related to the Flood of '85 linked at the end of this column, which is linked below.

The Category 1 hurricane’s fingerprints were on the deadly and destructive flooding 40 years ago this week, but the atmospheric setup that yielded the worst river flooding on record at Roanoke and …

11/04/2025

This is a pretty nondescript work week in weather for Southwest/Southside Virginia, which actually should be good for keeping some nice colors on a lot of trees. A little warmer toward the middle, some 70s highs on Wednesday, then cooler toward the end, little or no rain. The weekend will bring an increased chance of rain ahead of a cold front that brings a punch of cold air early next week. Mountain snow showers and a widespread freeze appear likely. This won't be a long-lasting pattern of cold air but could be quite sharp, maybe a 20s lows/40s highs day or two for many in our region.

10/30/2025

Overnight rain has mostly moved out of Southwest/Southside Virginia on this Thursday morning, with windy and cool but not exceptionally cold weather ahead moving into the weekend -- 50s/60s highs, 30s/40s lows, mostly. Rainfall amounts were generally not huge, 3/4 to 1 1/2 inches along and west of the Blue Ridge with some locally heavier amounts, 1/4 to 3/4 inch to the east, coming on top of variable early week rainfall, but it was enough to at least temporarily quell dryness and keep this month from being among the driest few Octobers on record. More in this week's Cardinal News weekly weather column.

Before this week’s sogginess, October 2025 was challenging last October and that of 2000 for lack of rainfall.

10/27/2025

This looks like an honest-to-goodness rainy week for Southwest/Southside Virginia, with multiple rounds of rain as a series of storm systems move across the southern and eastern U.S.. The first brings periods of mostly light showers on Monday into early Tuesday, with heavier rain to our south. The second stronger system likely sweeps in abundant moisture against our higher terrain as it tightens into a deep low and tracks just to our west and northwest on Wednesday and Thursday. This will be a much-needed widespread soaking rain with many locations topping an inch. There may be another wet system over the weekend or early next week, possibly giving Halloween night on Friday a convenient break.

It will be quite chilly throughout this period of rain, with temperatures stuck in the 40s and 50s, mostly. There may be some potential for higher elevation wet snow on the back side of one storm system Thursday or possibly over the weekend as colder air circulates in.

Elsewhere, Jamaica is gearing up for what could be a Category 4-5 strike from powerful Hurricane Melissa moving north out of the Caribbean. Eastern Cuba could be next in its sights, but as has happened all fall, the low-pressure troughing in the eastern U.S. will keep Melissa well away from the U.S.

10/23/2025

Some places have already had a pretty heavy frost, but if you haven't or the previous cold mornings haven't ended your localized growing season, be prepared to take care of tender vegetation Friday and Saturday mornings with widespread frost/possible freeze expected across much of Southwest/Southside Virginia, especially rural valleys. We have more pushes of colder air next week and, probably, at some point, a sizable storm system. Much-needed soaking rain and perhaps some elevation snow are possibilities, but at the least, some blustery days near Halloween (give or take a couple days) are likely. We have some time to fine-tune the details. This pattern developing next week would be one of great wintry intrigue were it about 5 weeks later.

(And yes the lead photo on this column was taken by THAT Bill Bolling who used to be lieutenant governor, not to be confused with Southwest Virginia natural phenomenon photographer Billy Bowling, who has had many previous photos in Cardinal Weather).

We’ve seen ice crystals forming on patches of grass and perhaps some blowing through the air on ridgetops — and there may be more of both, soon.

10/18/2025

Most in Southwest/Southside Virginia see some rain on Sunday afternoon/evening, probably not a lot, but perhaps even a rumble or a storm wind gust here and there. More widespread post-frontal winds could gust over 40 mph at times and will usher in cooler temps (60s highs, 30s-40s lows most days) in week ahead. Pretty classic fall weather ahead, but rain will not be a drought-buster.

A front passing tomorrow will bring gusty weather to much of the area. Most locations in the mountains will experience wind gusts over 40 MPH tomorrow. Take a look at the probability of wind gusts exceeding 40 MPH around the area in this image.

10/16/2025

Quiet, generally pleasant week of weather continue for Southwest/Southside Virginia. Beware some scattered frost especially in outlying rural valley on Friday morning. Highs mostly in 70s, lows mostly in 40s, with some localized variances up and down a few degrees through middle of next week. Chance of rain Sunday afternoon and evening ahead of a new cold front, but it doesn't look like much to help quell growing drought.

This week's Cardinal News weather column looks at one aspect of the relatively quiet and dry fall, the lack of tropical systems making landfall in the U.S. and affecting our region.

Tropical systems have not been hitting the U.S. or moving inland toward Southwest and Southside Virginia, but high waves have been eating up Outer Banks houses.

10/09/2025

Tuesday night's rain mostly piddled out crossing the mountains, doing little to moisten recent dryness. Variable amounts of rain across the region are part of why fall colors vary greatly from brilliant to dull in the high elevations where they are turning, set to turn more and more into lower elevations in days ahead. Some chilly 30s-lower 40s mornings the rest of this week will get us in a more autumnlike mood. We'll need to keep an eye on a weekend coastal storm -- it will probably keep the bulk of its wind and rain east of us, but the counterclockwise circulation will keep cool air cycling southward through the weekend.

This week's Cardinal News weather column:

Variable amounts of rainfall have led to widely varying visual conditions for fall foliage in higher elevations that are turning first.