Today is going to be hot and humid, but it won’t be off the charts. Not like areas over the central U.S. recently. Luckily, they are going to get a break from the heat over parts of the Midwest today. However, the high heat is sliding east.
We’ll run in the low-mid 90s this afternoon, but the heat indices will be near 100 degrees.
There is a warm front to our north with a cool front to our northwest. High pressure is to our northeast.
Winds will be out of the southwest today, and they will run at about 10-15mph with an occasional gust to 20mph. That will help out with how it feels outside.
We’ll be partly cloudy for a while. Then the clouds will briefly increase this afternoon. We’ll have some isolated showers and storms move in from the northwest during the day.
By the early evening a big batch of showers and storms will enter the Richmond area. This may hold together and move into our region later this evening.
If they do survive, then they could produce a few strong thunderstorms. They should fall apart by midnight. Tomorrow the cool front will slow down as it moves through the Mid-Atlantic. Due to the slow movement we will not really cool down much Saturday. High temps will be near 90 with the heat index still in the mid-upper 90s. We’ll be partly cloudy with a few showers and storms. The showers and storms should be pretty hit-or-miss during the day, but there may be some pickup again by the evening. By Sunday the front should sink just to our south. We’ll have high temps fall to the mid 80s, but it will still be fairly humid. We’ll have a mix of sun and clouds with a few showers and storms possible.
Unfortunately, (or fortunately) we are going to have quite a bit of rain early next week. Some folks do need some rain now for their lawns and gardens. However, many kids will be heading back to school on Monday, and it could be pretty wet at the bus stops.
Meanwhile we are tracking one system in the tropics, and we are keeping an eye on several other areas.
As of this morning tropical storm Franklin was the only official system out there. It is a few hundred miles east of the Bahamas, and it is snaking its way northward.
The center of the storm is actually on the edge of the large mass of thunderstorms. This was due to some moderate wind shear. However, the shear should decrease soon, and Franklin will be moving over some very warm water. So it is still expected to become a hurricane within the next 24-48 hours. The latest forecast has it passing to the west of Bermuda by a decent distance.
There is increasing confidence that it will take this track and stay west of Bermuda. There is also increasing confidence that it will stay far offshore from the U.S. coast. The models are starting to be more clustered.
Bermuda may get some effects, but on it’s most likely track they should be spared the worst of the storm. It could eventually move towards Nova Scotia beyond the 5 day forecast. We will likely get some waves here. We’ll have updates on all of that over the weekend.
There are 3 other zones that have a potential for development over the next few days. The chance for the “remnants of Emily” to reform are lower now. However, there is a high chance that a tropical disturbance could form into a system in the Gulf of Mexico.
That could happen over the weekend. We’ll keep an eye on it all, and bring you updates.
We’ll have waves running at about 2-4 feet at the oceanfront. Should be some semi-decent surf for the ECSC in Virginia Beach. This is creating a moderate threat for rip currents in Virginia Beach, but there is a high threat along the Outer Banks.
In national news… There was some pretty bad flooding up around Michigan the other day. There was also some severe weather there as well. Here is the article about it with more information: Flooding in Michigan.
Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler