The week ahead: Making a giant leap into spring
Would you believe me if I told you that today and tomorrow are going to be the two coldest days this week? It’s the truth – spring has finally arrived.
MORE SNOW?
If you were following my Twitter feed yesterday, you probably saw these images and were more than a little confused:
Close to an inch of snow on the Virginia Tech campus and still falling hard. #swvawx twitpic.com/cgzk23
— Dan Goff (@WxDan) April 4, 2013
And the snow just keeps on coming. 3-4” on the ground and not letting up. #swvawx twitpic.com/cgzwz1
— Dan Goff (@WxDan) April 4, 2013
Believe it or not, so was I. The National Weather Service in Blacksburg ultimately recorded 5.4” of snow at their office, and similar totals were seen in much of southwest Virginia along and west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
How did this happen? WDBJ meteorologist Brent Watts has a great in-depth explanation. The short version: evaporating precipitation aloft created colder temperatures, which allowed snow to fall al the way to the ground once no more could evaporate.
This same layer of cold air persisted long enough to create a little sleet around parts of Richmond. Since records have been kept for Richmond, snow had never been recorded on April 4th. That changed, as Richmond International observed a trace of sleet, which set a new snowfall record for the date (sleet measurements are included with snow).
NO MORE SNOW
I’m going to keep this short and sweet – at the risk of tempting fate, Richmond appears to be done with snow for the season. The blocking pattern in the Arctic is finally eroding, and warm air is on its way to Virginia.
We’ve already made it into the 60s this afternoon, and it’s looking pretty good that we’ll see highs in the 60s tomorrow as well.
The bad news is that these are likely the only two days that are going to be in the 60s over the next week.
The good news is that high temperatures over the remaining days are going to begin with a “7.” Temperatures are going to run in the 70s over the course of the next week. High pressure is going to keep skies mostly cloud-free, with Monday being the only real exception.
Our next chance for some rain looks to be next Thursday night and Friday morning.
It’s hard to argue with a forecast like that. Enjoy the week, everyone.
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Weather Dan
Dan Goff is now a two-time former Richmonder, having departed the River City yet again in favor of southwest Virginia, where he is working on degrees in geography and meteorology at Virginia Tech. Have a question about the weather or weather-related phenomena?
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