It’s hard to believe, but 2025 is right around the corner. Before we turn the calendar to a new year, I thought it’d be good to take a look back at 2024 for the last edition of this newsletter this year.
We covered many topics in 2024, which marked the first year that CommonWx transitioned to a monthly newsletter and just our third year overall. We’ve talked about connections between climate change and severe weather, drones being used for storm damage surveys and the immense risks posed by flooding.
In fact, it’s probably safe to say 2024 will be remembered for the opposite ends of the rainfall spectrum across Virginia. I think the two weather events that were most impactful to Virginians (more on that in a bit) were definitely Hurricane Helene and intense drought conditions many parts of the state experienced at times during the year.
What say you? Was there another event in 2024 that was particularly memorable or notable for you? Just a friendly reminder that we LOVE to get your feedback here at CommonWx! When you subscribe to the newsletter, you can reply to those emails each month with any feedback, thoughts or suggestions for future editions you may have.
What was your favorite edition of the newsletter this year? Here are my top three...
The all-important weather balloon…
When I was studying meteorology in at Virginia Tech, we were very blessed to have a local National Weather Service office right off campus in Blacksburg. Many of my friends and classmates would regularly stop in to that office to take part in weather balloon launches… a tradition that I somehow missed during my college days.
So, when I had the opportunity to launch a balloon there earlier this year, I had to take it!
The National Weather Service has been utilizing weather balloons since the 1930s – and the launches are still a vital part of how meteorologists there form forecasts.
“We don’t know what the atmosphere is doing. We see it at ground level, maybe depending on how tall the building is – what we can see,” Robert Stonefield – a meteorologist at the NWS Blacksburg office – told me. “But we can’t see the moisture, we can’t really see the winds – how it changes as it goes up in the atmosphere.”
To finally see the process up close and personal was definitely a moment from 2024 that I’ll remember for years and years to come.
The devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene…
I’d be remiss not to mention the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. While parts of western North Carolina caught the brunt of the storm, areas in Virginia like Damascus also experienced massive destruction from the storm.
Helene was an important – and extremely unfortunate – reminder of just how vital it is to be prepared for flooding, including for inland communities that aren’t impacted as often by tropical systems.
I had a conversation with Mike Bilder at the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the days after the storm – and I came away thinking maybe there should be more emphasis on those communities leading up to and during the Atlantic hurricane season.
“Between 2013 and 2022, the number one cause of death from tropical cyclones was inland flooding,” Bilder said. “But it does seem like it doesn’t get as much attention as it otherwise should.”
That is even more pronounced for areas along the mountains, where intense rainfall events can become even worse.
And no matter where you live, at least half of inland flooding fatalities are from individuals driving through flooded roadways.
Having multiple ways to receive weather information and knowing what your insurance actually covers in the event of a disaster like Helene are also important takeaways to remember from that storm.
Twisters: what it gets right… and wrong…
Getting to talk about this hot, summer blockbuster sequel to what may be one of the most well-known weather-related movies of all time will always be so special to me! It’s the first time we have done a live, CommonWx-related event since the newsletter’s inception back in 2022 (thanks again to the Alamo Drafthouse in Charlottesville for hosting us)! Getting to meet some of you and talking about the meteorological accuracy of Twisters may be the highlight of my career so far.
And… the movie actually did get a lot of things right! I was pleasantly surprised by it. From cloud seeding to the Fujiwhara effect… there are several things in the movie that have their basis in real-life science and technology. It still had a scene where people ran to a highway overpass during a tornado, though, which is always a huge no-no.
But that didn’t stop us from having a good time, and several audience members asked great questions! Whenever the inevitable next installment happens, we’ll be sure to be there.
And that’s a wrap on 2024 here at CommonWx! Thank you all SO much for checking us out each month. Be sure to share this email with your friends and family so they can sign up to receive the newsletter each month in their inboxes. And as I mentioned above, if you’ve got any feedback or something you’d like to see in 2025, let us know!
See you in 2025…
Checking in with Virginia's meteorology and weather/climate journalist community
I thought I’d also ask other meteorologists and journalists who cover weather and climate topics across Virginia what they thought of 2024 – what weather event particularly stood out to them? Here’s what they said...
Meteorologist Sean Sublette currently runs a weather and consulting firm and contributes to The Richmonder, but has covered Virginia weather for years – including a stint as Chief Meteorologist for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Sublette said the flash drought and heat in June in the Richmond area were particularly notable. He also had this to add on a statewide level:
“Through the end of November, Virginia (statewide) is having its warmest calendar year on record.
December might edge it into second or third place once the year is over, but even after the cold spell over the last week, Richmond is still having its warmest year to date on record (62.9°).”
Kevin Myatt ran a very popular weather column for the Roanoke Times for years, and now covers all things weather with a similar column at Cardinal News. He agreed that Hurricane Helene and drought conditions this year were the top two weather events that stick out in his mind this year. There were a few others, though – including several reports of severe weather on May 26th (more on that below).
Tropical Storm Debby, our mid-summer heat wave and some snow on Martin Luther King Junior Day (including four inches of accumulation in Roanoke) also made Myatt’s list. 2024 was a significant “space weather” year, too.
“I think the May 10 and October 10 aurora displays have to rank pretty high just for their unusualness at our latitude and the excitement they generated from so many people seeing them.”
Katherine Hafner is the climate and environment reporter for Virginia Public Radio member station WHRO. She told me that thankfully there weren’t major events that struck the eastern part of the state this year that came to mind for her – but did add that even small storms or high tides continue to cause significant flooding in the Hampton Roads area.
She also reminded me of several beach house collapses along the Outer Banks in North Carolina – which were usually tied to storm systems passing off the coast like Hurricane Ernesto.
And finally, I checked in with two of the National Weather Service offices that cover Virginia – Blacksburg and Wakefield. The Blacksburg office compiles a “Top 5” list of weather events for its forecast area. That list wasn’t finished at the time of publication, but Phil Hysell – the warning coordination meteorologist there – told me the May 26th event mentioned above had more than 50 unique reports of severe weather – the greatest number of reports for that forecast area since June 21st, 2011. Helene and drought conditions are also certainly on the list.
And Jeff Orrock, meteorologist in charge at Wakefield, said his office worked closely with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management during Helene and Debby – especially working on probabilistic forecasts for inland impacts with Helene. He also said coastal flooding in the Chesapeake Bay was worse this year when compared to recent years in terms of flood frequency – especially in the middle and upper parts of the bay.
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