Weather! Warm temperatures on the way

The World Meteorological Organization, who is responsible for maintaining lists of hurricane names wordwide, has retired two names from the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season: Igor and Tomas. Igor reached category 4 status on the Saffir-Simpson scale, and while it didn’t make landfall on the American coast, it did make landfall at both Bermuda and Newfoundland, […]

March 17, 2011; 11:36 AM • by Weather Dan

The World Meteorological Organization, who is responsible for maintaining lists of hurricane names wordwide, has retired two names from the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season: Igor and Tomas. Igor reached category 4 status on the Saffir-Simpson scale, and while it didn’t make landfall on the American coast, it did make landfall at both Bermuda and Newfoundland, where it did USD $200 million in damage and claimed three lives. Tomas was the last storm to develop of the 2010 season, causing damage in the Caribbean from Barbados to Haiti, where mudslides from heavy rainfall did more damage to an already-devastated nation and claimed 35 lives. An additional 14 people are either confirmed dead or listed as missing on the island of St. Lucia, where Tomas was responsible for USD $500 million in damage.

The WMO retires hurricane names each spring, based on a request from one of the affected countries, and makes a determination based on the impact of the storm and the potential for it to be confused with another storm of the same name. While many Richmonders remember Hurricane Gaston from 2004, which was responsible for heavy rain and significant flooding from South Carolina through Virginia and spawned 19 tornadoes in the Commonwealth. However, despite the financially significant damage caused by the storm ($120 million) and nine deaths, the storm was not considered significant enough to be retired. Contrast this with 2003’s Hurricane Isabel, which caused $3.6 billion in damage from the Caribbean to New York and Michigan. Igor and Tomas will be replaced by Ian and Tobias when the list from 2010 is re-used in 2016.

If you’ve become accustomed to our pattern of late – a day or two of nice weather bookended by several days of cloudiness and rain – you can stop. The next four days will be some of the best we’ve seen so far this March. I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve been looking forward to Friday all week.

Visible satellite imagery shows clear skies over most of Virginia this morning, and that trend will continue for at least the remainder of today and tomorrow. Look for clear skies, almost no wind, and temperatures Thursday in excess of 70 degrees. Temperatures will drop into the mid 40s overnight.

We’ll see more clear skies on Friday, as temperatures climb to near 80 degrees! That’s right, 80! Though we’ve hit the 70s a handful of times over the preceding months, 80 degrees would mark a temperature that we haven’t seen since October 28th of last year – almost 5 months ago. I know I’m going to take advantage of it, and I hope everyone else does, too. Lows Friday night will drop to near 50.

Expect a chance for some light rain as a weak cold front slides through on Saturday, ending our streak of 80-degree days at one. Partly to mostly cloudy skies will last through most of the day, and highs will still be quite mild, reaching the mid 60s. Clear skies return on Sunday, though temperatures remain cooler behind the front, only reaching 60 for a maximum. Lows both nights will be near 40.

I’m looking at another chance for some light rain on Monday of next week. I’ll have an update then.

March 17, 2011 11:36 AM 0