Weather! More summerlike weather ahead

While conditions stayed mostly dry over the weekend, we’ve got some increasing shower and thunderstorm chances over the next two days. It’s like it’s summer or something ’round these parts…

June 27, 2011; 1:26 PM • by Weather Dan

I’ve got a bit of a belated shameless plug this afternoon. For those that haven’t been following my travails, I’ve been attending Virginia Tech and studying meteorology, with the hopes that a degree program would be established here before I graduate.

Earlier this month, the university’s Board of Visitors approved the creation of a bachelor of science degree in meteorology, the first of it’s kind in the Commonwealth. It’s not official just yet; we still have one major hurdle left to clear: because it is a new degree program, the degree also has to be the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). SCHEV’s next meeting is July 19, and while the agenda hasn’t been published yet, I’m hoping our degree program will be on there.

All of the classes for the degree are in place now and we’ve got our first tenured meteorology faculty member joining the program next month. We’ve got a Facebook page for updates about the program; please check it out if you’re interested in following the program.

Light winds across the region aren’t doing much to clear out some overcast skies this afternoon; despite that, we’ll see some sunshine through breaks in the clouds this afternoon. Thanks to the clouds, Monday’s high should top out in the mid 80s this afternoon. Showers and a scattered thunderstorm are possible this afternoon, especially if we’re able to get some more breaks in the clouds. Any rain showers that do pop up may be heavy. If the clouds stick around more this evening, then we’ll see low temperatures stay pretty high as well, only dropping into the low 70s. Conditions will be at least partly cloudy for tonight’s Flying Squirrels game (vs. Harrisburg, 7:05pm) as well; game time-temperatures will start out in the lower 80s, dropping into the upper 70s by the ninth inning. While clouds will be the only real detractor from a nice evening at the ballpark, continue to watch for a stray rain shower, too.

A cold front passes through the region Tuesday afternoon, bringing another round of shower and thunderstorm chances with it. The low clouds that have lingered today will move out overnight tonight, and partly cloudy skies will greet the morning sun, allowing for temperatures to return back to the low 90s we’ve all come to know and love. This extra heating, coupled with an afternoon passage of the cold front, means we’ll see a pretty good opportunity for some additional showers at the very least, and likely some additional thunderstorms, tomorrow afternoon and evening. There’s already quite a bit of moisture in the atmosphere, especially if we don’t get any showers today, so again, if we do get any development tomorrow, they will likely contain heavy downpours along with strong wind gusts, lightning, and small hail. Overnight lows will again fall into the low 70s. Tuesday’s Flying Squirrels game (vs. Harrisburg, 7:05pm) should be a repeat of Monday. Partly cloudy skies with temperatures in the upper 80s at game time, along with a chance of showers and thunderstorms through most of the game. Temperatures should drop into the upper 70s by the end of the game, especially if any precipitation blows through.

High pressure moves in behind the cold front, and should bring us clear, hot, and stable weather for the second half of the week. I’ll have an update on Wednesday.

June 27, 2011 1:26 PM 0