How hot will it get this summer? Your turn to make some guesses in heat prediction contest

Last week, we looked at why this summer might not be all that hot in Southwest and Southside Virginia. Only time will tell if that comes to fruition, or if this ends up a sizzler anyway.

Whether the summer as a whole is hot or not, the task of predicting the hottest temperature at particular locations is an entirely different beast. Hot summers can be that way because of long stretches of low- to mid-90s and warm nights with almost no searing triple-digit heat, while relatively cool summers can have one or two days of brutal heat.

This week, we introduce the fourth Cardinal Weather heat prediction contest, in which you get to send in your predictions about the hottest temperatures at three locations of your choice out of 10 listed within our coverage area, the best picks being recognized with a small prize and some redbird publicity in a few months as summer begins edging toward fall.

Here is how it works. Please read the rules carefully.

(1)    Select THREE locations out of the 10 listed at the bottom of this column. These are the same as those used for the snowfall contest except the John H. Kerr Dam in Mecklenburg County replaces Burke’s Garden in Tazewell County, putting our region’s often-hottest official sensor site in place of what is often the coldest and snowiest.

These locations have been chosen for geographical distribution across Cardinal News’ coverage area, giving almost everyone at least one location that is reasonably close to where they live, and for reliability of available data. Pick any three you want: The three closest to you, or the three you think you have the best chance of guessing closely, but please do pick three and only three.

(2)   Guess the highest temperature that occurs between June 20 and Aug. 31 for each of the three locations you pick. These guesses should be rounded to the nearest whole degree Fahrenheit — if they aren’t, I’ll round it for you. Send me 97.7 and it will be counted as 98.

(3)    Email your guesses to weather@cardinalnews.org. Give me your name and where you live (general location — town, city, county or portion of county — not specific address). It is OK to include more than one entry on the same email, for different family members (no age limits!), or a group, just make sure names are clearly labeled for each set of picks.

(4)    Deadline for receiving entries is 11:59 p.m. on Friday, June 19. 

The winner of a $25 gift card for first place will be whoever misses the highest temperature by the fewest number of degrees for the best two of their three picks. If there is a tie, we’ll consider the third pick as a tiebreaker. If it’s still tied, whoever sends me their entry the earliest among those tied wins.

If I get 100 entries, I’ll boost it to a $50 gift card for first place and $25 for second place. The heat contest typically only gets only a third to half as many entries as the winter snowfall contest. Let’s see if it can break triple-digits whether the temperature does or not.

Any and all winners, plus some close runner-up finishers, will be recognized in a September edition of the Cardinal Weather column that posts on Wednesday evening each week.

To give you a general guide on what has occurred in the past, I’ve also included historic ranges of June 20-Aug. 31 highest temperatures for each location. Each of these sites have at least 30 years of data.

Remember to pick three of these listed below and send it your hottest temperature guesses for each to weather@cardinalnews.org.

Abingdon:  87 (2004, 2009) to 100 (1998).

Appomattox:  90 (2004) to 103 (1977, 1983).

Blacksburg:  86 (1920, 2009) to 100 (1926, 1952).

Clintwood:  86 (2004, 2009, 2014) to 97 (2012).

Danville:  92 (1961, 1962, 2004) to 107 (1918, 1932).

John H. Kerr Dam:  93 (1965, 1967) to 108 (2007).

Lynchburg:  91 (1967, 1982, 1994, 2004) to 106 (1936).

Martinsville:  90 (1979) to 105 (1942).

Roanoke:  90 (1967, 1982) to 105 (1930, 1936, 1983).

Wytheville:  85 (2009, 2013) to 98 (1988, 2010, 2012).

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.

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