Weather! Sweeping the clouds away…

On a scale of 1-Amazing, today’s weather is squarely in the “Incredible” range. What’s in store for this weekend?

June 30, 2011; 2:05 PM • by Weather Dan

Yesterday and today have been a pretty big change from earlier in the week; we topped out at 98 on Tuesday with quite a bit of cloudcover, especially through the morning and the evening as thunderstorms blew through the region.

In fact, our very own Scott Pharr snapped this photo as the thunderstorm complex moved across Chesterfield.

The cold front that accompanied those storms on Tuesday not only brought us over an inch of rain, but it also swept out the hot, humid airmass that was in place. Temperatures retreated into the upper 80s for highs yesterday, and the dewpoint values dropped from the lower 70s, which is just downright tropical in terms of humidity, into the upper 50s. Yesterday was incredibly comfortable, and today is too. This is all thanks to a high pressure system that has moved in behind the cold front; not only has it brought the temperatures down, it brought the cloudcover down too.

High temperatures will peak in the upper 80s again Thursday afternoon, only a couple degrees higher than where we’re at right now. Dewpoints this afternoon are down into the mid 50s, even lower than yesterday, and the weather is – for lack of a better phrase – incredibly comfortable. There’s not a rain chance in the forecast for several days. Overnight lows tonight will fall into the mid 60s.

We get more of the same on Friday, if slightly warmer. Highs in the lower 90s, lows in the mid 60s, with humidity values still relatively low.

Unfortunately, as the high pressure moves out to sea, southwest flow returns for the weekend, bringing with it another round of heat and humidity. Temperatures this weekend will be in the mid 90s both days with climbing humidity, reminding everyone yet again that it is really summertime in the sticky subtropical land that is Richmond; by Monday we could be approaching 100 yet again. If you’re making weekend plans or thinking about fireworks-watching, know that we’re going to see some shower and thunderstorm chances back in the forecast by Sunday and Monday.

I’m not going to leave you hanging though, I’ll have a weekend weather writeup for you Saturday morning.

June 30, 2011 2:05 PM 0