Summer didn’t start its engines very efficiently on Memorial Day weekend.
Alongside being the day we remember those who gave their lives defending the United States and being the weekend of the Indianapolis 500, Memorial Day weekend is often seen as sort of a summer preview, or even the first day of summer culturally. But this Memorial Day and the early week following it have turned oddly damp and chilly — just plain clammy and raw, as moisture has been lifted atop cool air trapped against the mountains.
Amid intermittent rain and low clouds, Tuesday became only the second May 27 that didn’t reach 60 degrees at Roanoke, with a high of 56. The only other sub-60 May 27 dating back to 1912 reached only 54 in 1961. Temperatures got stuck near 50 in parts of the New River Valley and farther west and stayed below 60 even across most of Southside…