Heat — Bedford, Virginia

2012-07-01 · Bedford, Virginia

Event narrative

A 57-year old man died of a heart attack that may have been related to the heat. No autopsy was performed so no conclusive evidence exists as to the cause of death. This was the 4th consecutive day of record or near-record heat in the county.

Wider weather episode

A ridge of high pressure dominated the central and eastern U.S. the last few days of June and into the 1st of July. Records too numerous to mention were broken and in some cases, smashed throughout the eastern half of the nation, many of them all-time records not simply date records. See June Storm Data for the June details in the Blacksburg/Roanoke CWA.

July 1st was the last day of the record-setting heat wave that began around the 27th of June. Records from climate observing sites on July 1st showed 100F at Danville (tied highest for date, records since 1948); 97F at Roanoke (tied 3rd, records since 1912); 97F in Lynchburg (tied 2nd, records since 1893), 90F at Blacksburg (tied 3rd, records since 1952) and 90F at Bluefield (1st, records since 1959).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 404467. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.