Garden Trade Nursery & Garden Shop

Photography by Tommy Stafford
Nelson County Life Magazine
Children playiing with rabbits @ The Nelson Farmers Market
Nellysford, Virginia

Half of the weekend was great. Saturday was sunny and beautiful. Above you can see how much fun these kids had petting rabbits at the market. We’ll have lots more of this weekend’s happenings later today. Be sure to check back in. By Sunday the remnents of old tropical storm Barry gave Nelson and Central Virginia a well deserved day of a nice slow soaking rainfall. We’ll still see some lingering clouds early today as the low pressure system, formerly Barry, pulls away to the NE and up the eastern seaboard. Some stray light showers may stick around this morning and we may see some scatered thunderstorms this afternoon / evening.

Rainfall amounts were not heavy across the area, but we did get a good soaking at most places. Here at NCL-Nelson County Life Magazine we picked up about .60″ of rain before midnight last night. At NCL-Tiger Fuel in Lovingston they reported .61 inches of rain on Sunday. Upon the Devil’s Knob Mountain at NCL-Wintergreen Nature Foundation they reported .71″ of rain just before midnight Sunday evening. This is an incomplete report from TWNF since they were offline a big part of Sunday morning until their computer was rebooted. They probably had more like 1.50″ of rain from the look of other gauges nearby. NCL-Delfosse Winery just off of Hickory Creek in Faber only showed .04″ in the gauge. I just don’t think that’s right. Something must be blocking their gauge. Because…Just up Route 29 about 5 miles at affiliate station The Covesville Store, they had 1.18″ in the gauge, so I am pretty sure there is something going on with the Delfosse gauge. If not, they totally missed out on the rain! Generally speaking everyone topped out with afternoon highs around 70 degrees except on the mountain where they reached a high of 60 degrees. You can see other area rainfalll totals by visiting The Automated Flood
Warning System for Nelson.

On the current surface map below, the low pulls NE and most of the rain with it. A trough (weak disturbance) will be in the area by tonight in advance of a front making it’s way toward us. That will allow for the development of some scattered storms if we get enough sunshine peaking out.
Current-Sat Surface Map

Below, on the National Forecast Map, old Barry scoots up the coast and leaves us. We’ll still have a battle getting the sun started early on, but we’ll see some before day’s end.
Today’s Forecast Map

Today look for clouds and spotty showers this morning with partly sunny skies by afternoon. Temps will be warmer today with some scattered afternoon thunderstorms possible. High temps in Nellysford, Cub Creek, and Arrington 84-86 degrees. On the mountains above 2000 feet along the BRP, Wintergreen, Three Ridges, Devil’s Knob, and Montebello, look for partly sunny skies with isolated thunderstorms in the evening. Highs top out around 75 degrees. Winds will be SW 10-15 MPH. Tonight widely scattered thunderstorms with mostly cloudy skies. Lows valley around 63 degrees. On the mountains overnight lows of about 57. Winds SW 5-10 MPH
Tuesday partly sunny. High 83. On the mountains look for afternoon highs around 74. The rest of the week looks partly to mostly sunny with temps in the 80’s reaching the lower 90’s by next weekend.

Remember when severe weather breaks out, come here. We’ll have all of the latest watches, warnings, and coverage affecting Nelson and nearby counties.

Have a great Monday!

Know your Nelson
-T-

Just a quick update for Sunday. Local radar pretty much tells the story for today. Look for light to moderate rain throughout the day with mostly cloudy skies. We have already picked up about a tenth of an inch of rain at NCL-Nelson County Life Magazine in Greenfield. Other river and rain gauges across the county generally showed no more than .25 inches of rain as of 10AM. We might get a tiny peek at sun much later in the evening, but that’s about it. Local satellite views show a large area of clouds across our area from what is left of tropical storm Barry. All he is now is just a low pressure area. As I discussed yesterday, the effects from Barry here will be minimal, but we will get much needed rain from what’s left. If you want to read more about Barry in the hurricane center’s final advisory, you can look here.

Current-Sat Surface Map

Here in Nelson County and Central Virginia look for moderate rain to continue throughout the day as the low pulls NE away from us later today. Winds will kick up to near 25 MPH at times from the NE. Cooler with highs around 68-70. Tonight rain off and on but diminishing as we work toward morning. Lows around 60.

Monday clouds still hang around but only slight chances of rain, warmer with high in the low 80’s.

I’ll have the complete weather Monday morning with the week ahead and rain total for today, etc. That will post around 5AM Monday.

Have a great Sunday!
-T-

Garden Trade Nursery & Garden Shop

Updated 8:00 AM 6-2-07
Tropical Storm Barry may skirt our area to the east in a day or so.

The first named tropical storm of the official season is working its way around the gulf area. It may have some effect, mainly clouds, on our weather late Sunday into Monday. All depends on the track right now. Effects will be very, very minimal if any at all. Here’s what National Hurricane Center predicts so far of Sat AM:

Previous post from Friday morning.
Photography by Tommy Stafford
Nelson County Life Magazine
Montebello Post Office – Montebello, Virginia
We’re Proud to Serve Montebello and all of Nelson County, VA

Thursday was another hot day across Nelson County and Central Virginia. Few people saw any rain yesterday, but when I was dropping off the new issue of NCL at Montebello they were having a pretty good thundershower. You can see in the picture above, it was raining. Some adjoining counties were under severe thunderstorm warnings late in the day, but no real damage was reported. I even noticed pea sized hail hitting the windshield at Montebello heading back down 56. Back at the foot of the mountiain in Tyro, not a drop! So goes the summer type afternoon thunderstorms.

Just a passing note, we don’t tend to hype it as much here as the media guys we once worked for do. Today marks the official start of hurricane season. We actually believe something ought to be taking place before making it out to be a crisis. When it actually begins to take place we’ll have plenty to say.

Thursday evening we saw lots of scattered t-storms but again most people didn’t see rain. However, portions of Nelson saw heavy downpours just before dark. We spent the evening just over the county line in Covesville. Rick & Sarah Ovenshire invited us up to have supper at their Coveville Store. They even have their their own superduper weather station in “downtown metro” Covesville. You can check them out here. Great food, nice night, and no severe weather thankfully!

NCL Wintergreen Nature Foundation was the only NCL station reporting any real measurable rainfall Thursday evening. They got a 1/4 inch of rain last evening with a recorded high of 85 degrees Thursday morning @ 10:40 AM. NCL-Nelson County Life Magazine reached a high of 89 degrees. NCL-Delfosse Winery & Vineyard, reached an afternoon high of 87 degrees. At NCL-Tiger Fuel Lovingston they reached an afternoon high of 87, almost 88 degrees. Back at the foot of the mountain NCL-Wintergreen Winery they reported an afternoon high of 85 & .12 inches of rain.

On the current surface map below, high pressure is the dominating feature. However, old thunderstorm boundries & weak disturbances will create scattered thunderstorms. Best chances again are late evening. It will be warm, ok hot, today with highs nearing 90 degrees.
Current-Sat Surface Map

On the National Forecast Map, high pressure holds on & muggy conditions prevail. Thunderstorms refire this afternoon. Over the weekend we’ll see plenty of sun, but more organized thunderstorms move in Saturday night through the start of the next work week.
Today’s Forecast Map

Today look for patchy fog in those areas where rain fell last night. Then, mostly sunny skies. Hot with widely scattered thunderstorms. High temps in Greenfield, Tye River, and Rockfish around 90 degrees. On the mountains above 2000 feet along the BRP, Wintergreen, Three Ridges, Devil’s Knob, and Montebello, look for partly sunny skies with scattered thunderstorms in the evening. Highs top out around 80 degrees. Winds will be south around 5-10 MPH. Tonight scattered thunderstorms dying out by midnight. Lows valley around 63 degrees. On the mountains overnight lows of about 59. Winds south 5-10 MPH.

Saturday mostly sunny, high 85-87. On the mountains look for afternoon highs around 80. Can’t rule out an isolated thunderstorm Saturday, but they will be widely scattered. The extended forecast shows more clouds than sun Sunday with daytime highs of 83 & overnight lows generally in the 60’s.A tad cooler mountains. On Monday thunderstorms continue with mostly cloudy skies and temps in the mid 80’s for daytime highs and lower 60’s – upper 50’s mountains. By Tuesday morning we cool to the mid 50’s for lows.

Have a great Friday and weekend!

Remember, Know your Nelson
-T-

Garden Trade Nursery & Garden Shop

Photography by Tommy Stafford
Nelson County Life Magazine
Building Cumulus Clouds @ Greenfield
We’re Proud to Serve Greenfield and all of Nelson County, VA

In weather we often talk about vertical lift or convection that helps produce thunderstorms. To create a thunderstorm you need unstable, rising air. You can tell that you have those dynamics when you see those puffy fair weather cumulus clouds that have vertical rises like those shown above, in particular on the right. This is a very minor example and though not a thunderstorm, it does give you a clue that storms can be forming. If you see this in the early morning hours, say by 10 o’clock or so, you can bet it will be an active thunderstorm afternoon.

Wednesday evening those towering cumulus clouds did create isolated thunderstorms in some locations. Neighboring Rockbridge County briefly went under a severe thunderstorm warning just before 5 PM yesterday. It was a pretty intense storm just SW of Lowesville. Again most people didn’t see rain, but where the storms were some heavy downpours occurred. NCL-Nelson County Life Magazine reached a high of 88 degrees. NCL-Delfosse Winery & Vineyard, reached an afternoon high of 86 degrees. At NCL-Tiger Fuel Lovingston they reached an afternoon high of 86 degrees at 4 PM. NCL Wintergreen Nature Foundation was pretty warm as well with a Wednesday high of 82 degrees. Back at the foot of the mountain at NCL-Wintergreen Winery they reported an afternoon high of 87 degrees at 3:30 PM.

On the current surface map below, high pressure is the dominating feature today, with scattered garden variety thunderstorms. Best chances again are late evening. It will be hot today as high pressure allows warmer temps to take control.
Current-Sat Surface Map

Below, on the National Forecast Map, high pressure keeps us mainly dry, but muggy. Thunderstorms are more likely this evening and tonight and most likely along the BRP.
Today’s Forecast Map

Today look for mostly sunny skies this morning with partly sunny skies by afternoon. Hot with Some widely isolated thunderstorms. High temps in Greenfield, Cub Creek, and Rockfish around 90 degrees. On the mountains above 2000 feet along the BRP, Wintergreen, Three Ridges, Devil’s Knob, and Montebello, look for partly sunny skies with isolated thunderstorms in the evening. Highs top out around 78-79 degrees. Winds will be south around 5 MPH. Tonight scattered thunderstorms dying out by midnight. Lows valley around 67 degrees. On the mountains overnight lows of about 65. Winds south 5-MPH.

Friday mostly sunny in the morning then scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening. High 87. On the mountains look for afternoon highs around 75.The extended forecast by Saturday shows partly sunny skies returning. Daytime highs Saturday 86 – overnight lows generally in the 60’s. By Sunday we cool to around 80 for daytime highs and lows near 60 – upper 50’s mountains. Chances for scattered thunderstorms return Saturday night through Sunday and Monday.

Remember when severe weather breaks out, come here. We’ll have all of the latest watches, warnings, and coverage affecting Nelson and nearby counties.

Have a great Thursday!

Know your Nelson
-T-