Weather

This week brings a reprieve from extreme heat and relief from severe drought — more like most recent summers in our region.

Major atmospheric shifts to bring cooler and wetter weather over next several days. But how long will it last?

Blacksburg also had its hottest day in 12 years on Monday — but a break in the heat wave is on the way.

Moisture in the air drives up the heat index, but it rarely condenses enough to ease Virginia’s drought.

Powerful Hurricane Beryl in Caribbean may be a harbinger of an active Atlantic tropical season that might eventually flip Virginia’s rain fortunes.

Lynchburg, Martinsville and South Boston have had only a few hundredths of an inch of rain in June as the month nears its end.

The triple-digit mark — 37.7778 Celsius to most of the world — hasn’t been breached much in Virginia during the last dozen years.

Remember to enter our heat prediction contest as the first hot spike arrives Friday, with a longer run of potentially extreme high temperatures next week.

Computer forecast models have replaced the hand-drawn maps that helped win World War II. Artificial intelligence is poised to take weather forecasting to the next level.

Also, remember to enter the Cardinal Weather heat prediction contest, details at the end of this column.