Weather! Rain, thunderstorms, more record heat possible

For the rest of Wednesday, clouds should continue to thin out some as the sunshine starts to return. The good news is that the morning clouds and rain will keep today’s high down and out of the 90s.

August 4, 2010; 12:40 PM • by Weather Dan

In yet another reminder of what we were dealing with just 8 months ago, I feel compelled to share this story from the Washington Post:

Nine months after winter storms, some area hospitals expect a spike in births

Outside, the white December snow piled higher. Relentlessly higher. Inside a Laurel home, a woman watched “Dexter” reruns while her boyfriend played “Batman: Arkham Asylum.” They grew restless. They looked at each other.

And then they — well, you know.

“Once a day,” Gineen Glenn, 27, admitted on a recent Tuesday.

“Twice a day,” interjected John Cargo, 28.

Speaking of births, on Monday I wrote about Invest 91L, which was showing a strong likelihood to develop into a tropical cyclone within 24-48 hours. Well, not long after my forecast went up, Tropical Depression Four was born. Tuesday morning, Four morphed into Tropical Storm Colin. Just twelve hours later, Colin was no more, having mostly dissipated back into the aether. It’s still being monitored for potential redevelopment, but it’s not looking imminent.

Let’s talk about Richmond. An area of rain showers developed overnight and moved across all of the Richmond metro area this morning, dropping 0.34” of rain in the morning hours, and making for a fun commute. Satellite imagery shows this trough moving east towards Tidewater at the moment, while a second trough, containing only some light isolated showers associated with it, begins to cross the Appalachians.

For the rest of Wednesday, clouds should continue to thin out some as the sunshine starts to return. The good news is that the morning clouds and rain will keep today’s high down and out of the 90s. The second system currently crossing the mountains will bring the threat of more showers and some embedded thunderstorms through the evening hours. Overnight lows tonight should drop into the mid 70s.

For Thursday, we’re looking at the possibility for our 11th day of 100-degree temperatures this year. We’ve already broken the record of nine in a year, we’re currently sitting at ten, and I wouldn’t be shocked at all to see this record increase before the end of August, much less the end of the year. An approaching cold front will bring a chance of strong to severe thunderstorms across the region Thursday afternoon and evening, with strong straight-line winds as a possibility. Lows Thursday night should fall into the low 70s.

Looking ahead to the weekend and the Carytown Watermelon Festival, the cold front should bring a small dip in temperatures by the weekend keeping Saturday humid but with highs only near 90 rather than 100. Throw in some humidity and you’ve got a classic Richmond summer day for a classic Richmond event.

For those who don’t know or haven’t heard, my girlfriend and I relocated to beautiful Christiansburg, Virginia this past weekend. I’m going to be attending Virginia Tech in the fall to complete the final two years of my undergraduate degree in geography, concentrating in both geospatial analysis and adding a smattering of meteorology. I’m still going to be writing for RVANews for at least through the winter, and I’m still going to be providing weather updates via Twitter. Providing updates and forecasting for an area where I’m not currently living will provide a new challenge for me, but it’s one that I’m looking forward to. My biggest disappointment right now isn’t that I’m going to be away from the Richmond that I know and love, it’s that I don’t have anywhere to put a snowboard for measuring snow for this coming winter.

August 4, 2010 12:40 PM 2