Weather! Clear skies, warm temperatures all weekend long

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will all see mostly clear skies with highs at or above 80 degrees. Saturday will likely be the warmest of the three, topping out in the mid 80s. Overnight lows each night will be in the 50s, warming slightly each night from Friday to Sunday, starting near 50 and ending in the mid 50s.

October 8, 2010; 7:38 AM • by Weather Dan

We’re in the midst of a very quiet weather pattern for the next few days. So, I’ve got pictures!

Exactly how quiet?

Here’s an infrared satellite image from early Friday morning.

The only clouds in this image, if they’re hard to make out, are well off the Atlantic coast. High pressure is firmly in control around here, and will be through the weekend.

I can pass along some news with regard to Virginia’s drought. Here’s the US Drought Monitor using data from September 21, several days before the rains started:

And now, for comparison, following 6.48” of rain since September 26, is this week’s US Drought Monitor for Virginia:

Slightly over half the state is now drought-free, which is the most since the week of June 22nd. Area-wise, the drought peaked the week of July 27th, where over 96% of the state was labeled as at least “abnormally dry.” In terms of severity, the drought peaked in September, when 0.79% of the state was listed as being in an extreme drought, while more than 30% of the state was experiencing a severe drought.

Another round of strong high pressure won’t do much to help improve the drought anymore, unfortunately, but it will make for great weather this weekend for the Richmond Folk Festival, college football, or anything else you might have planned for this weekend.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will all see mostly clear skies with highs at or above 80 degrees. Saturday will likely be the warmest of the three, topping out in the mid 80s. Overnight lows each night will be in the 50s, warming slightly each night from Friday to Sunday, starting near 50 and ending in the mid 50s.

HokieCast (vs. Central Michigan, 12:00pm Saturday): Richmond isn’t the only locality looking at beautiful weather. If you’re making the trek out to my corner of the state to see the Hokies and Chippewas, you can expect a lot of the same – and some fantastic tailgating weather. Kickoff temperatures will be in the low 70s, and peak near 75 throughout the game.

The Cavs and Spiders are both on the road this week.

Looking ahead, there’s some disagreement about exactly when we’ll see the next round of rain. The models don’t really agree on what’s to come from Tuesday on, but that may be our earliest shot at any more precipitation. It’s really hard to say at this point whether we will or not; I’ll have a complete update on Monday.

October 8, 2010 7:38 AM 0