Humberto Brings Hope

The spanish meaning for Humberto is "bright." Sure enough, the rain from this record-setting storm brightened the spirits and the lawns of southwest and central Virginia. While not everyone received the 5-8 inch totals as Patrick and Henry counties did, everyone got at least some rainfall. Below are some of the rainfall reports from the National Weather Service in Blacksburg. These come from the IFlows automated rain gauge network. You can find a link to all these guages on our weather page, look under "Weather Extras" and click on "Rainfall Totals from area Gauges."

...PATRICK COUNTY...8.12" CIRCLE M IFLOWS

...HENRY COUNTY...
5.58" SMITH RIVER SG

...ROANOKE...
1.44" MILL MOUNTAIN

...CITY OF DANVILLE...
1.63" DANVILLE

...BATH CO...
1.32" DOUTHAT ST PARK

...BOTETOURT CO...
1.00" DALEVILLE

Not only did this storm provide benefitial rain to areas in a moderate to extreme drought, it also made history. We have never seen a tropical depression intensify this rapidly into a hurricane just prior to making landfall. Here's the details from the National Hurricane Center:

"BASED ON OPERATIONAL ESTIMATES...HUMBERTO STRENGTHENED FROM A 30 KT (35 mph) DEPRESSION AT 15Z (10 am) YESTERDAY TO A 75 KT (85 mph) HURRICANE AT 09Z (4 am) THIS MORNING...AN INCREASE OF 45 KT (50 mph) IN 18 HOURS. TO PUT THIS DEVELOPMENT IN PERSPECTIVE...NO TROPICAL CYCLONE IN THE HISTORICAL RECORD HAS EVER REACHED THIS INTENSITY AT A FASTER RATE NEAR LANDFALL. IT WOULD BE NICE TO KNOW...SOMEDAY...WHY THIS HAPPENED."

Thanks Humberto for your rain, and we hope there are more where you came from. We have a long way to go to make up for what we've lost. Now I need to go mow my lawn. The first time since July!

--Brent