It would be quicker to list the weather that hasn’t happened in the past couple of weeks than it is to list all that has happened.
A dynamic April atmospheric pattern has brought elements of all four seasons to Cardinal News’ Southwest and Southside Virginia coverage area.
In the course of 10 days, there have been summerlike high temperatures almost scraping 90, snow coating mountaintops, some frosty mornings, periods of gusty winds, a couple rounds of still-needed rain, and a some oddly copious hail.
Thursday morning will bring the possibility of scattered frost and some freezing temperatures with most locations dropping into the 30s, maybe a few 20s in protected valleys and outlying areas.
But the trend toward the Easter Weekend will be favorable for many, as warmer temperatures in the 70s and 80s return and the days look dry for our region. Rain and storms a few states to our west may eventually reach us next week, but it looks like sunrise services and Easter egg hunts will be blessed by dry warmth — as of this Wednesday posting. (Always monitor forecasts for later changes.)
Recapping the ups and downs of recent weather:
April 5: A Saturday brings the hottest temperatures so far in 2025. The John H. Kerr Dam in Mecklenburg County, often our Cardinal News country’s hot spot, barely misses the season’s first 90-degree high at 89. Not far behind are Danville, Lynchburg, Martinsville, Roanoke and South Boston, each recording a high of 88 degrees. Most other locations beyond the higher ridges are in the 80s.
April 6-7: Expected rain largely dries up on Sunday, April 6. But it’s only delayed, not denied. That Monday morning brings widespread totals of ½ to 1 ½ inches across our region, the most widespread and soaking rain our region has experienced since we were having all the flooding and ice damage in mid-February. This time, the rain is very much needed, helping ease weeks of dryness.
April 9: Brrrrr. Where did those 80s go? Wednesday morning temperatures are about 60 degrees colder than those of the previous Saturday afternoon with many locations dipping into the 20s. Frequent regional ice box Burke’s Garden drops to 19.
April 11: Chilly, damp weather reminiscent of November descends on much of our region, with many temperatures in the 40s and lower 50s. The rainfall near and west of the Blue Ridge is pretty significant, ½ to 1 inch for many, generally less to the east. But is that something bouncing in the rain? By golly, it’s hail at several locations. Subfreezing air extending very low in the atmosphere has allowed even modest updrafts to develop hail. It gets deep enough to cover roads in parts of Carroll County. But some of the highest mountaintops near a mile up in the Grayson Highlands area have something else white accumulating — snow!
April 14: Well, it’s warm again. Many spots top 80 degrees again. And an approaching front kicks up thunderstorms in the Ohio Valley and West Virginia that track eastward into Virginia, mainly near and north of the I-64 corridor, during the evening hours. Many of the storms have ingested enough atmospheric shear to rotate. And in parts of Bath, Alleghany and Rockbridge counties, the hail isn’t particularly large, but it is voluminous, blown sideways by strong winds at times, rattling off the siding of houses and accumulating deeply on the ground.
We’ve been back to windy chill the past couple of days, and 80s warmth appears to be on the way again for the weekend.
On and on it goes.
See also:
Backdrop for tragedy: The roaring winds of April 16, 2007
A powerful nor’easter whipped in unseasonable cold on Virginia Tech’s darkest day 18 years ago. Four years later on the same date, a Carolinas-Virginia tornado outbreak has largely been overshadowed by a bigger one days later.
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:
