ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 2, 1997 TAG: 9701020082
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
ENJOY IT WHILE YOU CAN: The forecast through the weekend is for temperatures as high as the 70s.
The entire Southeast is in a cycle of mild weather with unusually warm temperatures forecast for Virginia at least through the weekend.
"Weather is a cycle of one weather system to the next," said a spokesman at the National Weather Service office at Blacksburg.
Normally, he pointed out, we would be entering the coldest part of the winter because January generally brings the lowest temperatures of the year.
But this season, the flow of air currents is holding the freezing temperatures to the north and west. The Southeast, meanwhile, is enjoying springlike weather.
He could not say how long this cycle might last beyond the weekend, but climatologists generally have predicted a milder-than-usual winter.
Today should be cloudy with highs in the mid-50s, for instance, and the forecast gets better from there.
The forecast for Friday calls for mostly sunny skies with a high in the mid-60s.
Saturday should be sunny and mild with a low of 55 and a high near 70, although the weather bureau foresees afternoon and evening showers.
The long-range forecast predicts a mild day again Sunday with a low in the 40s and highs in the 60s.
The bureau does not store long-range records, so the spokesman was unable to say how often temperatures have been this high in early January.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has reported temperatures in the low 40s in the early part of January 1996, but there were several days in the middle of the month when the temperatures rose to the high 50s and low 60s.
High for that month was 65 on Jan. 19, 1996. The temperature fell to 16 that night and hit the month's low of 12 the following night.
LENGTH: Short : 47 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL Staff. Kirk Lancaster (right) puts on glovesby CNBwhile fishing next to Shawn Gwyn in the Roanoke River Wednesday on
Wiley Drive. Wednesday's 47 degrees (normal for January) is expected
to give way once again to springlike weather. color.