When it’s easy to pick an obvious top weather story of the year, that usually means something really bad has happened.
Hurricane Helene, with its widespread, destructive and deadly water and wind impacts far inland extending across our region in late September, easily rates as the top weather story among 10 chosen for 2024 in Cardinal News’ Southwest and Southside Virginia coverage area.
It may well end up that Helene could be the most expensive natural disaster in Virginia history, as Gov. Glenn Youngkin asked for $4.4 billion in aid from the federal government, $4.1 billion for damage caused by Helene plus another $300,000 for mitigation of future disasters. Hurricane Isabel in 2003 — which heavily affected the entire state with wind and water except, ironically, the southwest third most affected by Helene — accounted for an estimated $3.5 billion of damage in Virginia when adjusted for 2024 inflation.
Beyond Helene, it was an overall warm, dry year across the region, with just enough interrupting downpours like Helene to keep the year from slipping entirely into prolonged extreme drought.
Roanoke finishes with its warmest year on record based on mean temperature, averaging 60.6 degrees, beating out the previous year (60.3), which was the Star City’s first to average over 60 degrees. This year’s warmth was driven by notable warmth in all four seasons, including a mild winter, warm spring, the hottest summer peak daily high temperatures in 12 years, and a fall warmth surge that caused fruit trees to bloom in late October and early November. Blacksburg also appeared to be nearing a record warm year, averaging 55.3 degrees, while Lynchburg is ending a top 10 warmest year at 59.3 degrees.
Following are my selections for the Top 10 weather stories (not always singular events) of 2024 for Cardinal News’ coverage area. As always, these are subjective and debatable — except the first one, which is overwhelmingly obvious.
1. Hurricane Helene
Helene was not just the biggest weather story of 2024 for Cardinal News country, but a generational weather disaster for some Southwest Virginia localities caught just a ring or two out from the storm’s catastrophic inland bull’s-eye focused on western North Carolina’s mountains.
(The National Weather Service has put together a comprehensive “StoryMap” of the Helene disaster in North Carolina and Virginia, linked here.)
According to government figures, about 3,000 homes were damaged or destroyed in Virginia, and nearly 3,700 farms suffered adverse effects, with 735 roadways, 26 bridges and 63 culverts heavily damaged or destroyed. After the storm, 484 primary and secondary roads and 118 bridges were closed. At its peak, 310,000 Virginia utility customers were without power.
There were two deaths in Virginia from Helene, both related to wind, not flooding, and occurring many miles north of the most destructive impacts near the North Carolina line. A woman in Craig County and a man in Tazewell County died as a result having something blown on them — an outbuilding in one case, a tree in the other — by high winds that commonly gusted 40-60 mph across almost all of Southwest and Southside Virginia for 6 hours or more on Sept. 27, even far away from the border counties hardest hit by storm impacts.
The New River at Radford crested at 31.03 feet, the second highest on record, nearly 7 feet above the third highest stage in 1977, and trailing only the mighty Aug. 14, 1940, flood of 35.46 feet, also spurred by the inland torrents from a hurricane. Homes and businesses near the New River, far away from the heaviest downpours, were inundated, and acres of debris piled up in Claytor Lake.
Total rainfall of 3-10 inches was common across our region, except slightly less in parts of Southside, over a three-day period from Sept. 25-27, with a few totals over a foot in Grayson County. That paled in comparison to 20-plus inches in the North Carolina mountains, but it was still overwhelming as some of that total poured in a short time to rapidly raise streams, pushing buildings aside and eroding highways in and near communities such as Damascus.
The National Weather Service office in Blacksburg issued 36 tornado warnings related to Helene’s remnants, with at least three tornado tracks confirmed in Bedford and Pittsylvania counties. One tornado rated as strong as EF-2 on the 0 to 5 Enhanced Fujita Scale of Tornado Intensity, carrying winds up to 118 mph over a 6-mile-long, 225-mile-wide path west of Chatham and Dry Fork in Pittsylvania County, damaging 30 structures and destroying a mobile home.
Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane near the Florida Big Bend, where the state’s panhandle meets its peninsula, but its effects in the Appalachians were maximized by the hurricane’s interaction with an upper-level low. Rather than track northeast and weaken rapidly over flatter terrain as would be typical, Helene’s circulation center was curved to the northwest for a perpendicular intersection with the highest terrain of the Appalachians, and its winds at the surface and aloft were maintained more efficiently inland than is typical for a tropical system by the upper-level low. Also, the wind flow around the low and Helene had spread rainfall against the mountains and a stalled front, saturating the ground and raising many streams out of their banks before Helene’s tropical torrents arrived.
Cardinal News has covered the aftermath of Helene in many articles over the past three months. The easiest thing to do to find Helene-related articles would be to go to our home page, click on the magnifying glass symbol in the upper right, and search for “Helene.” But below are some links that will give you a general idea of how this story developed and how its aftermath is continuing. (Relevant links to previous Cardinal News articles and weather columns are also listed below each of these top 10 weather stories of 2024).
Sept. 26-27: (Updated live coverage) Hurricane Helene takes out power in much of Southwest Virginia; 1 person dead and 2 injured in Craig County
Sept. 28-29: (Updated live coverage) Second tornado confirmed; 118,000 Va. customers still without power Sunday as storm cleanup continues
Sept. 30: Pembroke residents among Southwest Virginians with harrowing stories from flooding
Oct. 1: As floodwaters recede, residents of Damascus assess their future
Oct. 2: Why was Helene’s impact so bad for us?
Oct. 4: Long-term recovery from Helene comes into focus, one week after the storm
Oct. 28: U.S. 58 revisited: a walk with VDOT and the plans for repair
Nov. 19: Youngkin requests $4.4 billion from the federal government for Helene recovery and mitigation
2. Persistent and recurring dryness
The flooding of Helene was one of a few disruptions to what was overall a dry year, with long stretches of minimal rain that pushed the state to levels of drought not seen on such a widespread basis in 15 years or more. By early July, more than 90 percent of Virginia was considered to be in moderate to extreme drought, and — prior to this past weekend’s rainfall — over 96 percent of commonwealth soil was considered at least “abnormally dry” as the year neared its end. Virginia experienced its worst spring wildfire season in 30 years, with 411 fires burning over 20,000 acres, including a 525-acre fire in Lee County and a highly visible 75-acre fire on Twelve O’Clock Knob south of the Roanoke Valley. There were adverse agricultural impacts as well. Virginia as a whole experienced its driest June in 130 years of records. This year brought Danville’s driest October on record with just .05 inch, and it was among the 10 driest going back more than a century at Lynchburg, Blacksburg and Roanoke with less than an inch for the month at each location. Lynchburg ended a 38-day streak with less than .01 inch of rain on Nov. 9, its second longest such streak on record.
March 20: Fiery intro to spring, but another Saturday soaker will quell risk
June 5: Derecho and a tornado? Auroras returning? Cold end to warm, fiery spring
June 26: Vicious summer cycle: Heat begets drought, drought begets heat
July 16: Hot, dry weather brings ‘crispy’ fields and low yields to Southwest Va. farmers
July 17: It has been one of Virginia’s hottest, driest summers — but a switch is about to flip
Nov. 6: Dry spell makes history as a little moisture starts showing up again
3. Auroras x 2
Virginia’s northern skies lit up to historic levels not once, but twice, with the aurora borealis in 2024, as powerful emissions of solar radiation bombarded Earth’s atmosphere during the peak of an 11-year solar cycle. The May 10 and October 10 aurora displays were the most brilliant seen at our latitude since 2003, made all the more impressive by the widespread availability of advanced digital photography in smartphones that captures even more than the eye can readily see, and also social media spreading those images around the world at one’s fingertips. Still, even to the naked eye, these displays awed thousands, sometimes even through city lights, with sights many never had seen before and that are usually reserved for residents and visitors at much more northern latitudes. After both aurora displays, Cardinal News ran compilations of photos from within and near our region, taken by our readers and supporters, linked below. With the sun still near the peak of its 11-year solar activity cycle, it is not out of the question that we may see a similar display in 2025. (Auroras are often defined as “space weather,” so that’s why they are included here.)
May 11: Aurora borealis paints rare artwork on canvas of Virginia skies
May 15: Historic aurora seen in Virginia recalls another from Civil War history
Oct. 13: Aurora encore: Photos capture 2024’s second big round of vivid northern lights in Virginia
4. Near-derecho plus Salem tornado
While the National Weather Service ultimately ruled that the May 26 squall line did not quite meet the definition of a derecho — its damaging winds were a bit too intermittent rather than being continuous over at least 240 miles — 60,000 utility customers lost power and many trees were blown down or damaged as it moved west to east across our region on the late afternoon and evening before Memorial Day. The squall line crossing our region had its origins in Oklahoma and Missouri where several tornadoes occurred. Our region did not experience a similar tornado outbreak, but a brief and fairly weak tornado did happen to form in one of the region’s most densely populated areas, the Roanoke Valley, carving a path of roof and tree damage and debris-scattered roads through Salem near the Roanoke River. One observer caught the tornado on video from a nearby hilltop, and a passing motorist’s dash cam captured the debris-laden swirl crossing a street as well. (All images of a well-defined funnel from cloud to ground passed off on social media as the Salem tornado were fake.)
May 26: Gusty storm line knocks out power to almost 60,000; possible tornado in Salem
May 27: Tornado confirmed in Salem; power being restored to thousands in Virginia after damaging winds
June 5: Derecho and a tornado? Auroras returning? Cold end to warm, fiery spring
5. Summer sizzle
Even amid many years of national headlines about extreme summer heat waves, Southwest and Southside Virginia managed to avoid any runs of really extreme summer heat for a dozen years — until the late June to mid-July period this past summer. On July 15, Roanoke hit 103 degrees, which was the hottest day since 104 on the afternoon of June 29, 2012 — hours before the infamous derecho hit — and only the second triple-digit day since the 2012 summer. Danville reached 100 on July 5, the first triple-digit temperature since July 8, 2012, by far the longest stretch without a triple-digit temperatures in over a century of Danville weather records. After frequent mid-90s to near-100 temperatures for about three weeks, the 2024 summer appeared to be on track for the hottest on record at many locations, but a cooler second half of summer tempered the pace significantly. Roanoke’s 2024 summer still managed to tie 2010 for warmest on record at 78.1 degrees.
July 15: Roanoke soars to 103 degrees; another sizzler Tuesday for Virginia
July 17: It has been one of Virginia’s hottest, driest summers — but a switch is about to flip
6. MLK Jr. Day winter storm
After the nearly snowless regional winter of 2022-23, there was much anticipation about whether it would snow significantly in Southwest and Southside Virginia in the 2023-24 winter, stoked by many winter forecasts focusing on El Niño and its frequent correlation to larger winter storms in our region historically. The bigger snowfall forecasts fell well short, as the more intense storm systems tracked to our northwest before Arctic air was established, but the winter did provide one widespread winter storm that brought snow of multiple inches to most of our region on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Jan. 15. Snowfall was heaviest in Southwest Virginia west of Interstate 77, where moisture running over cold air from the southwest was deepest, with many reports of 4 to 8 inches and a couple of double-digit amounts in the highest elevations. Farther east, 1-3 inches was widespread — except nothing in Southside. One localized area that got heavier snow than anticipated was along the Blue Ridge from Floyd County into the Roanoke Valley, where 3-6 inches fell even though 1-2 was expected. An atmospheric boundary similar to a warm front focused a heavier band of snow on this area for several hours but robbed areas to the south of it of any substantial snowfall (see No. 9). Snow accumulation from the Jan. 15 winter storm stuck around for several days as an Arctic air mass settled in, but it proved to be a one-hit wonder for widespread significant snowfall, as only scattered minor accumulations occurred in the rest of an overall mild winter.
Jan. 14: Snow expected Monday and Tuesday, heaviest in Southwest corner
Jan. 17: Breakthrough snow for many, another wintry miss for others
7. Autumn blooming warmth
Cool early fall weather and some mid-October morning chill were followed by a surge of summerlike warmth in late October and early November, causing several growers in the region to notice that their fruit trees had bloomed almost like it was springtime. This is a dangerous situation for fruit trees as new blooms freeze in inevitable subsequent winter cold, and that can cause permanent damage. Temperatures in our region reached extreme levels for so deep into the fall season, with Lynchburg recording its hottest ever November temperature of 85 on Nov. 7, and several locations east of the Blue Ridge and in the Roanoke Valley topping 80 on multiple days in early November.
Nov. 13: Might November warmth end cold turkey by Thanksgiving?
Nov. 21: As apple and cherry trees burst with blooms months ahead of schedule, climate experts sound a warning
8. Tropical Storm Debby
Before Helene, there was a tropical system that dropped widespread and rather heavy rain on large parts of our region, though the rain was more welcome than feared because it was so dry beforehand. Hurricane Debby actually came ashore in the Florida Big Bend close to where Helene would later come ashore, but took a northeast track into the Atlantic Ocean before making a second landfall as a tropical storm on the South Carolina coast. Tracking northwest inland, it spread widespread and much-needed rainfall of 2-6 inches along and east of the Blue Ridge on Aug. 7-9 with an inch back to near the New River and I-77 corridor. Other parts of Virginia experienced more flooding and a couple of damaging tornadoes, but Southwest and Southside Virginia mostly just got rain and some sporadic power outages with wind gusts up to 40 mph.
Aug. 8: So far, so good as Debby pulls away
Aug. 14: 6 takeaways from Debby’s effects on Virginia
9. Snowless Southside
As hard as it would have been to imagine after the 2022-23 winter, the 2023-24 winter had even less snow than its predecessor for Danville, Martinsville and some other Southside Virginia localities. As mentioned above in No. 6, the season’s best shot at snow on Jan. 15, originally looking likely to be 1-2 inches areawide, was shunted slightly northward by a warm-front-like boundary and focused heavier snow near Floyd County and Roanoke. After totaling 0.5 inch in the paltry regionwide winter of 2022-23, Danville measured just a trace of snow in 2023-24. Danville will finish 2024 having gone 946 days without at least an inch of snow, its longest such streak on record going back to 1917, and 661 straight days without at least a tenth of an inch, its third longest such streak on record. Martinsville recorded zero snow in the 2023-24 winter after getting only 0.1 in 2022-03. South Boston, which recorded zero snow last winter after only having a trace the prior winter, has not had measurable snowfall since 0.2 inch on Jan. 29, 2022.
Jan. 17: Breakthrough snow for many, another wintry miss for others
March 6: Is winter permanently broken? Or is snow just taking it slow for a few years?
10. August chill
Not everything was about warmth and drought. Late August brought on a fall preview with the coolest temperatures the summer month had seen for our region in decades. Relatively cool weather hung on for many days of late August and early September, only to give way to tropical stickiness by late September and then abnormal autumn warmth by late October and November (see No. 8). But on Aug. 21, Burke’s Garden dropped to 38 degrees, the coldest it had been during August in the Tazewell County temperature sink since Aug. 7, 2004. Roanoke’s 50 on consecutive mornings on Aug. 21-22 was the coldest it had been in August in the 21st century to date — it had not been cooler in August since 47 on Aug. 31, 1999. Wytheville’s 43 and Abingdon’s 47 were also the coolest August temperatures at those sites in 20 years.
Aug. 21: Coolest August temperatures in decades visit parts of Virginia
Keep submitting your weather photos
A hearty thanks to everyone who sent in or granted permission to use photos of weather and various sky phenomena in the Cardinal Weather column and newsletter during this past year. Each weekly newsletter (usually emailed on Wednesdays) contains one image chosen as the Photo of the Week while others are used in the Cardinal Weather column, sometimes as the lead image. So if you photograph something interesting or beautiful in the sky over Southwest and Southside Virginia (or other parts of Virginia, nearby states, or even if you happen to be somewhere else entirely for vacation, family or business), please email to weather@cardinalnews.org for consideration to be used in the Cardinal Weather column or newsletter. This week’s year-end sample compilation includes photos shot by Ernie Braganza (Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS over Abingdon), Keith Huffman (Smith Mountain Lake sunset), David Cox (lightning bolt at Union Hall), Hope Noland (storm over Roanoke), Nathan White (carnival sunset in Mecklenburg County), and Alex Thornton (icy landscape over Boones Mill).
Journalist Kevin Myatt has been writing about weather for 20 years. His weekly column, appearing on Wednesdays, is sponsored by Oakey’s, a family-run, locally-owned funeral home with locations throughout the Roanoke Valley. Sign up for his weekly newsletter:
