An azalea is partially covered by snow in South Roanoke last Sunday. No accumulating snow is expected this Sunday but very cold temperatures in the teens and 20s will threaten any early-blooming vegetation. Courtesy of Scott Crow.
An azalea is partially covered by snow in South Roanoke last Sunday. No accumulating snow is expected this Sunday but very cold temperatures in the teens and 20s will threaten any early-blooming vegetation. Courtesy of Scott Crow.

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The two chilliest mornings of the March cold spell are likely ahead, but apparently there will be no punctuating winter storm.

An Arctic cold front pushing through on this Friday evening will lead to a windy, cold weekend, with highs generally in the 40s both Saturday and Sunday and lows in the 20s both Sunday and Monday mornings, and possibly some teens in western parts of the Southwest/Southside Virginia region covered by Cardinal News.

Projected lows by Monday morning in the teens and 20s are expected across our entire region. Courtesy of NOAA.
Projected lows by Monday morning in the teens and 20s are expected across our entire region. Courtesy of NOAA.

These temperatures are likely to be colder than what was experienced during the middle part of this week, so please cover or bring inside any tender plants of importance to you that have bloomed or budded prematurely during a warm February.

A few snow showers may blow over the mountains into the western fringes of the state on Saturday, but the chances of a midweek winter storm, never probable but seemingly on the edge of reasonable possibility, have faded away.

Slight changes in the upper-level flow will apparently not allow for the development of a low near the southeast U.S. coast next week, but rather a much weaker system farther out to sea. Little or no precipitation of any sort is now expected next week for Southwest and Southside Virginia.

After a cold start to the coming work week, temperatures will begin moderating and could become quite warm with some 70s highs toward the end of next week as the atmospheric pattern that has led to a March resurgence of winterlike temperatures relents.

Spring – real spring, not premature spring – appears to be right around the corner.

Journalist Kevin Myatt has been writing about weather for 19 years. His weekly column is sponsored by Oakey’s, a family-run, locally-owned funeral home with locations throughout the Roanoke Valley.

Kevin Myatt has written about Southwest and Southside Virginia weather for the past two decades, previously...