The current summary conditions for the Town and the neighborhood are as follows:

Not for planning about the future, there is much current, up to-the-minute information about Blacksburg.

Local information is available at the National Weather Service, 1750 Forecast Dr., Blacksburg, VA 24060, main phone number is (540) 552-0084. Our work herein is not about current weather but about how daily weather extremes and climate enhance or limit successes within the neighborhood and how future climates may influence the neighborhood.

Climatic Analyses:

• Monthly max, min, mean for temperature, precipitation
• 10-year historical data for the same parameters
• First date of frost; last date of frost (past 10 years), thus likely length of growing season
• Storm events
• Snow events (frequency) and depths
• Maximum wind velocity reported; last 10 year max
• Heating- / cooling-degree days
• Day length programs
• Measured / potential radiation (monthly average)
• Cloudy days by seasons
• Notes

We plan to engage the local US Weather Service actively in developing a useful site with many links to weather and climate information and maps that will be useful in:

• energy conservation
• landscaping and horticulture (evapotranspiration estimates)
• building maintenance (paints, etc. and albedo and heating.cooling relations)
• probabilities of storms
• freeze and heat limits for construction projects (shrink-swell potentials)
• probabilities of flooding (with relevance to precipitation)
• snow weight and expectations for requisite building strength
• snow and roof-slide hazzards and their prevention
• potentials for neighborhood wind energy systems
• tornado and storm safety and precautions
• construction requirements for disaster prevention
• "airsheds" or air pollution collection areas (GIS maps with Mrs. Katherine Smith)