Record heat today, heavy rain possible later

OAK HILL, WV (WOAY) – It was a hot day today around southern West Virginia. While it has not been made official by the National Weather Service, Beckley likely set a new record high when the Raleigh County Memorial Airport reached 88 degrees, breaking the old record of 87 degrees, which had last been set in 1996 (and also in 1962).

Everyone else got into at least the 80s as well, and Pineville saw the thermometer soar into the 90s. The other story was the presence of a few scattered showers and storms around the area. Some of the storms briefly had gusty winds and perhaps (according to our radar at least) some small hail.

Any storms that pop up should end shortly after sunset. Tonight, we’ll see partly cloudy skies and mild temperatures, with lows in the middle 60s.

Tomorrow, the heat will be turned up again, with highs in the middle 80s. Of course, some areas like Pineville will again get into the lower 90s. There will be two major differences between today and tomorrow: 1) we probably won’t see a record high, that’s 89 degrees, also set in 1996, and 2) there won’t be any scattered storms as high pressure sits over the region. Tomorrow night, we’ll see lows in similar territory to where they’ll be tonight.

As we go into the middle of the week, the pattern changes dramatically as a series of fronts park over, or at least very near, the area. That will serve as the focal point for multiple rounds of showers and storms that will give us days of rain chances. The first of these fronts could pack a punch as it pushes through the region. The Storm Prediction Center has placed the entire viewing area in the Level 1 category for severe storms. If any of the storms do become severe, damaging winds will be the main threat.

Despite this threat of severe weather, the overall wet pattern is great news, given the drought situation that we find ourselves in, and if it falls over a long enough period to avoid any flooding issues, it will definitely help ease the drought. It won’t erase it totally; we have fallen quite a way behind in terms of rainfall, but it will help. The two major atmospheric models that we look at have differing solutions to the question of how much rain will fall. But both do have quite a bit in their respective forecasts. I’m leaning towards the slightly wetter GFS at the moment. There is plenty of moisture for these storms to work with, and they will be fairly persistent, with the only extensive dry stretch during part of the Memorial Day weekend.

As for temperatures, they’ll be cooling off. We’ll spend one day in the upper 60s after the initial front passes by, but most days will see highs in the middle 70s, a few degrees above the normal.