ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 20, 1996 TAG: 9603200067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Below
A 50 PERCENT CHANCE of snow is predicted, so bundle up - it's spring!
Go ahead, Ma Nature! Give us your best shot! We Western Virginians have learned to laugh at your climatological shenanigans!
Well, let's keep chuckling, folks, because today's the official First Day of Spring and they're calling for ... snow.
Yes, it's been one heckuva wacky weather year, and it's far from over. We didn't have a blizzard this winter; we had a ``near blizzard.'' Then we had scattered, sporadic flooding. Then it turned downright balmy for a little while.
And just when we thought it was safe to start wearing shorts and T-shirts, the National Weather Service predicts a 50 percent chance of snow showers.
``We could get a dusting,'' said meteorologist Jeff Stewart. Reminded of the last time his august agency predicted a ``dusting'' and we wound up with something like 6 inches, Stewart said: ``That's a scary word, isn't it? But that's all I see happening.
``Of course, anything could happen. But it probably won't.''
He was pretty far out on a limb at this point, so he decided to go all the way. ``I'll say it's not going to snow in May.''
He backed that up with this statistic: For the month of April, Roanoke has historically averaged only 0.4 inch of snow.
Thanks, Jeff.
So, exactly how much is a dusting? About an eighth of an inch, which Stewart admitted was a very subjective measurement.
Look at it this way. Today's ``dusting'' won't be enough to break any records for this season. We've had 53.4 inches of snow in Roanoke so far. We'd need another 9.3 inches to break the record set during the winter of 1959-60.
That's roughly 75 more ``dustings.''
Our advice? It may be miserable, cold and rainy, but try to enjoy this time of the year in between shoveling snow and mowing grass.
LENGTH: Short : 46 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. New River Valley's sudden snow flurryby CNBTuesday blankets Virginia Tech's commuter lot. color.