Sunday brought on another summer afternoon in March.
High temperatures included 88 degrees at Danville, 87 at Lynchburg, 87 at Martinsville, 86 at Roanoke, and darn near the second 90-degree reading of March at South Boston, reaching 89.
These are close to normal high temperatures for mid- to late July, and similar to another heat surge 11 days earlier that was followed the next day by fairly widespread snowfall.
This past Sunday’s heat wasn’t followed by snow, but some locations did drop below the freezing mark by Tuesday morning.
We’ll be back to 70s and 80s highs on Thursday, and after some Friday showers and perhaps a few thunderstorms, it could well be below freezing again by Sunday morning, before next week warms up.
Edge of the heat dome
Virginia has been on the eastern fringe of an extreme “heat dome” high pressure system that is rewriting March heat records in much of the western, central and southern U.S., such an intense and expansive area of heat that this March appears almost certain to be the warmest on record in the contiguous 48 states.
Occasionally, this heat dome has expanded eastward far enough to pull Virginia into the heat wave, but we are also just far enough east that cold fronts have been pulled around the high from the north to bring short but sharp shots of cold and a few cooler days.
Overall, however, the hot spells are overwhelming the cold snaps, and this March is poised to be one of the warmest on record for much of our region.
If the month had ended Tuesday, it would rank as tied for fourth warmest March on record at Danville, fifth warmest on record at Roanoke, seventh warmest at Lynchburg, and tied for ninth warmest at Blacksburg, each 7 to 9 degrees above normal.
Even with some up-and-down rolling between cool days and warm ones, the last week of the month will likely not have enough chill to pull this March below being in the top 10 for warmth at these sites with over a century of official weather records.
And April looks like it will begin with more of the western heat dome starting to get shoved eastward toward us, as the pattern begins to shift to one with a western trough of low pressure that may ramp up the spring storms in the central U.S.
Historic 80s and 90s
There have been a lot of 90s and even 100-plus temperatures unusually early west of the Mississippi, with at least one instance of 90 degrees in our region.
South Boston poked 90 degrees on March 11 — officially recorded as March 12 because of the 8 a.m. to 8 a.m. EDT cycle of the co-op weather station, which is different than the midnight to midnight cycle of major climate stations. (A somewhat frustrating subject for another day.)
Either way, recorded either as March 11 or March 12, South Boston’s 90-degree high this month appears to be earliest on the calendar any official weather station in all of Cardinal News’ Southwest and Southside Virginia coverage area has reached the 90-degree mark, edging out Danville hitting 91 on March 13, 1990.
In fact, that appears to be only the 12th time any official weather station in our region has recorded 90 degrees or higher on any date in March.
Danville has hit 90 in March on two other occasions, 91 on March 17, 1945, and 90 on March 31, 1985.
Lynchburg has hit 90 in March three times — all of them in 1907, before the start of data at any of the other stations that have had 90s in March. Those happened on March 22, March 23 and March 29, the latter being 92 degrees, apparently the hottest March day in official data for any location in our region.
The John H. Kerr Dam in Mecklenburg County has hit 90 four times in March, never earlier than March 17, in 1985, 2007, 2016, and 2023.
Roanoke’s hottest March day was a 90-degree high on March 19, 1945. The Star City’s high hit 87 on March 11 this year, the day before a tenth of an inch of snow, apparently the only time a temperature in the 80s and measurable snow have occurred on consecutive days at least as far back as 1912.
Cut 10 degrees off the bar and consider 80-plus temperatures, and this has still been a remarkable month of warmth.
Danville has already had six days at or above 80 degrees, which is the most in March since 2007 and tied for third most in over a century of record. Lynchburg, Roanoke and Martinsville have gone above 80 five times, among the top five for 80-degree days in March.
Even Abingdon has had three days above 80, the most in March since 1998 and third most since its records began in 1969.
After another cooldown this weekend, it appears there may be more premature sizzle on the way as March shifts to April.
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.
To submit a photo, send it to weather@cardinalnews.org or tweet it to @CardinalNewsVa or @KevinMyattWx. Please identify the location and date of the photo with each submission.
Sign up for his weekly newsletter: