Update Friday Afternoon:
Some showers, downpours and thunderstorms are popping up for our Friday evening before cooler, yet pleasant, conditions take over for Mother’s Day weekend.
Across Hampton Roads and the Peninsulas, our rain chances will be limited to pop-up downpours and a few t-storms. Around the Albemarle Sound and south to the Outer Banks, there’s a better chance for some solid t-storms tonight. Some of which could feature damaging wind and brief hail, be sure to stay weather aware as the western horizon should bring in some storms.
The Severe Thunderstorm Watch that’s issued south of the Albemarle Sound is in effect until 9pm Friday.
The frontal system kicks offshore later tonight, so storms should move out by 11pm/midnight, and sets up a cooler and pleasant weekend. Highs Saturday will be in the upper 60s and low 70s with a mix of sun & clouds. Clouds should be stubborn early on, but the drop in the humidity will feel great!
A weakening boundary slides by late Saturday night throwing us a stray shower, but will pull in some drier air for Mother’s Day. Expect a brighter day with highs rebounding into the low 70s.
The dew points will also drop big time over the next few days, giving us some refreshing weather through at least Saturday and Sunday. Have a great weekend!
-Steve
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Over the last few days we have had some pretty warm and muggy weather. Today we are going to start to transition to a cooler pattern. There is a stationary front that is edging into the area form the north (they do drift). There is also a stronger cold front closing in from the west.
There are a couple of areas of low pressure moving along the fronts. We’ll have partly cloudy skies for a while today, but as the front sinks to the south we’ll develop more clouds. There will be some scattered showers and thunderstorms forming this afternoon. There may be a few strong storms over coastal North Carolina.
Winds will be mainly out of the north today. They will turn out of the northeast, and they will increase around noon. They will run at 10-15mph with a few gusts to 20mph. Temperatures will top off in the upper 70s this afternoon with some 80s inland and south.
It will be even cooler north of the metro.
We’ll have a little more rain forming over the area this evening. We’ll be north of the front by that time.
These showers will turn into just some spotty showers overnight as drier air gradually works in from the north. Tomorrow the front will slowly sink to our south. The area of low pressure will gradually work farther offshore. However, it will be close enough in the morning that there may be some isolated/light rain showers. Otherwise, we’ll become partly cloudy Saturday. The thing is that the wind will stay up out of the north and northeast at about 10-15mph. There may be a few gusts to 20mph. This is going to keep our temperatures down. Highs will only be in the upper 60s.
This is a big change from just a few days ago when we were hitting the low 90s. The good thing about the weekend is that we’ll have a lot less humidity. Dew points are dropping sharply today. They will stay down over the weekend.
We’ll still have enough moisture for some isolated showers on Sunday. Any showers that do fall will be from a weak upper level low. Overall, Sunday should be a good day though. We’ll have a mix of sun and clouds.
We’ll stay in the 70s for most of next week. We should be dry on Monday, but we’ll develop some more showers by Tuesday and Wednesday.
In world news… More terrible flooding. There have been a lot of stories of historic flooding lately. Houston, Dubai, and also parts of China. Now another report just came in from Brazil. This time the death toll is shocking. Over 100 people have died from the recent flooding over the southern part of the country. Here is an article with more information: Deadly flooding in Brazil.
Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler