CommonWx

New research shows the 2024 storm dumped about one-fifth of what would normally occur during a whole year in parts of Western North Carolina.

Researchers at Virginia Tech studied storms over the last two decades.

Drought has gripped the Commonwealth for months now. And that has left Virginia’s farmers in a tough spot.

Drought conditions persist across Virginia – with the Roanoke Valley and areas further southeast, including Bedford, Danville and Martinsville, reaching an emergency status this week. Local, regional and state officials are stressing the need for more Virginians to conserve water.

A new analysis shows nearly all of this year's matches will be played with "performance impairing heat."

You’re probably well aware of this fact – especially if you work in or have any connections to agriculture – it’s quite dry across the Commonwealth right now.

Many emergency management staff in Virginia and across the country are under staffed and under funded according to recent reporting from ProPublica. What exactly does that mean for the folks tasked with keeping their communities safe from disasters, past, present and future?

Meteorologists and other officials at the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center have a new tool in their arsenal to help people across the country be better prepared for severe weather.

Spring is right around the corner – which means many farmers across the Commonwealth are hard at work preparing for the growing season.They’re doing that with the ever-growing impact of a warming climate and extreme heat events – which certainly have been documented in Virginia in recent years.

We’re a few weeks into the new year – which also happens to represent a new frontier for weather forecasting in this country.Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration introduced new weather prediction models powered by artificial intelligence.

It feels like we just did this exercise, but it's that time of year to look back at some of the most impactful (and some of my favorite) CommonWx stories from 2025.

Last month, the Virginia Climate Center at George Mason University released “the Commonwealth’s first comprehensive, science-based evaluation of how past, current and anticipated climate conditions have and will impact Virginia and its people.”

Tuesday marks the 40th anniversary of one of the most devastating natural disasters to ever hit the Roanoke Valley. Days of rain culminated with the Roanoke River rising 19 feet in 12 hours on Election Day, 1985.

The calendar says October, which isn’t exactly known for being a month trademarked by tornadoes across the country… but something very interesting occurred this month when it comes to severe weather in this country.

CommonWx is a weather and climate newsletter, and while this story does have ties to those fields of study, it’s more about how our earth is so intricately connected – and how little we know about those connections.

It’s summer – which means it’s hot. And Virginia has already gone through a couple stretches of really hot weather since the calendar flipped to summer. But there are parts of the state that are hotter than others…

A new model from researchers at Virginia Tech can produce a flooding projection in minutes.

“Hail is one of those things that we don’t really know how it forms,” says Sean Waugh, a research scientist at NOAA’s Severe Storms Laboratory.

Last fall’s Hurricane Helene brought unparalleled devastation to parts of Southwest Virginia, Northeast Tennessee and Western North Carolina.Communities there are still cleaning up months later. The storm has long passed, but its impacts may have a long tail – potentially adding to another natural disaster this part of the world typically deals with during this time of year.

State officials are asking Virginians this week to be prepared for severe weather season. That includes Tuesday's annual statewide tornado drill.

The idea of a “citizen meteorologist” has been around for a very long time. And this month – in which we celebrated President’s Day – I thought it would be good to focus on a presidential citizen meteorologist – Thomas Jefferson.

A little secret for you all – winter forecasting involves many variables that meteorologists are trying to track down to accurately communicate the risks involved with a big snowstorm.And for this month’s edition of the newsletter, I’m going to try to break down some of that nuance with the help of Virginia Tech meteorology professor Dave Carroll.

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.

Anecdotally, it seems as if this year has been very dry across much of Virginia – with the big exceptions being the two tropical systems that move through earlier this year.

Folks who live in coastal areas are probably well aware of the risks from tropical systems.But inland communities maybe aren’t as prepared for hurricanes and tropical storms after they come ashore. As Hurricane Helene has shown us, maybe we should talk more about the risks from tropical systems to localities far removed from the coastline.

The peak of the Atlantic hurricane season passed us by last week… and you may have noticed that overall, the season has been somewhat quiet.

Many Virginia students have already returned to their classrooms for the new school year. And if they haven’t yet, they will soon.With many divisions across the state starting back earlier and earlier in the year, students are more frequently having to deal with hot temperatures as they come back to school, too.

The National Weather Service is expecting rainfall rates of two to four inches an hour at times for parts of the Commonwealth from Tropical Storm Debby.

Full disclosure – I was expecting to rip this movie apart. It's predecessor, the 1996 cult classic "Twister," is not exactly the most accurate from a meteorological standpoint... But "Twisters" actually gets a lot right!

Drones have a variety of purposes – from taking gorgeous photos and videos above our heads to even food delivery. And a new project hopes to expand the use of drones – or uncrewed aircraft systems – damage assessment in the wake of tornadoes and hurricanes.

With technology advancing every day, it might be a bit of a surprise to you that the leading weather agency in this country still relies on some very old tech to feed data into its forecasts.

Research has already told us a lot about the connection between a warming climate and severe weather — but there's still a lot we don't know.

It’s Flood Awareness Week in Virginia – a time blocked out by Governor Glenn Youngkin and other state officials meant to help people understand the risks associated with flooding.

Spoiler alert: most places are behind on snow totals so far this year.

If you’ve lived in Virginia – especially the western part of the state – for any amount of time, you’ve probably seen a scenario like this play out before: the forecast calls for a significant snowstorm and when time comes for the event to happen – you either see very little compared to your neighbor in the next county or nothing at all.If that’s frustrating for you, just know it’s also frustrating for meteorologists as well.

For the second edition of this newsletter in a row, we’re going to be talking about climate change. Obviously, it’s a real problem. But how can scientists, meteorologists and climatologists all relay that message in a way that the general public and decision makers understand?That was the topic of discussion for Marshall Shepherd at Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Center in Roanoke.

This may sound obvious – but climate change is a very real problem.Data continuously shows that Earth’s climate has been warming for some time and it looks as if that trend will only continue in the years and decades to come.That was one of the key messages from a symposium held by the Virginia Climate Center at George Mason University this month. It was presented to broadcast weather professionals across the state.

We’re right, smack-dab in the middle of the Atlantic hurricane season – which runs through November 1st. But the peak of the season typically occurs between August and September.So far in this still pretty young season, there have been four named storms, with only minimal impacts to the continental U.S.

The National Weather Service is the go-to government agency for alerting the public about various weather-related hazards. You’re probably most familiar with what they do when they issue a Flash Flood Watch or a Severe Thunderstorm Warning.You’ll likely get an alert on your phone or will see the messaging pop up on your TV when that happens. But do you know the difference between a watch, warning and an advisory?

The calendar now says March, which means Virginia is entering severe weather season. The state’s Department of Emergency Management, known as VDEM, says now is the time to prepare.

If you love winter – or are just a weather observer in general – you’ve probably got a very pressing question: Where is all of the snow?

While most of Radio IQ’s listening area hasn’t seen a significant snowfall so far this winter, there is still certainly time for that to happen. Some parts of Virginia have recorded snowfalls well into March, after all.So, there’s still time to see one of the most beautiful sights in all of nature: the snowflake.

Kevin Myatt has been a weather observer and columnist for the Roanoke Times for nearly two decades. He’s now filling a similar role with Cardinal News – in addition to his “day job” with the communications team at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. Radio IQ Meteorologist Nick Gilmore caught up with him to discuss the ins and outs of his career and what he has learned while covering the weather in this region.

While things have started to change recently, the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season – which runs from June 1st to November 30th – has been abnormally quiet.

Ken Graham is in just his fourth week as director of the National Weather Service.Graham took some time to talk with Radio IQ Meteorologist Nick Gilmore about his hopes for the agency – as it deals with a changing climate and the continued need to make forecasts understandable and usable to the public.

As hard as it may be to believe, summer will arrive – at least meteorologically speaking – on June 1^st. So what can Virginia expect this summer?

Tornadoes are low frequency, but high impact events in Virginia. And while that means they aren't typically at the forefront of people's minds, proper preparedness can be the difference between life and death.