We had more lightning and flooding across the area last night. This photo was sent in by Jesse Bass III in Portsmouth.  It’s beautiful how it crossed the skyline.  Great shot!

This next one was sent in by Eric in Suffolk.

Interesting how one end is thicker than the other.  Probably the discharge in the electrical column, or it could be photo perspective.  There was a house that was hit in Northern Norfolk by lightning.  There were also houses that were struck around Lynnhaven Circle and near Cape Henry in Virginia Beach.  So this is a good time to remind folks about lightning safety.  Now it’s great that we are getting these lightning photos from people.  We really appreciate your time and effort,  but be really careful.  Try to take them from inside a structure through a window.  You do not want to be outdoors during these dangerous lightning storms.  Also do not snap photos while driving.  Either stop the car or have a passenger take them.  Stay off of chorded devices like some phones and computer mouses.  Also, if there is very frequent lightning, then you want to wait to take a shower.  Lightning can hit a water pipe and travel into your home.  Just wait until the lightning is less frequent. 

Finally we did have some trees reported down around Great Bridge, Jamestown, and some power lines around Smithfield.  We didn’t have a lot of reports of hail, but Joy Austin in Smithfield sent us this pic of some small hail:

We’ll see more storms this afternoon into the early evening.  We’ve had a lot of cloud cover, and instability isn’t through the roof like it was yesterday.  So severe weather is possible, but not likely.  Precipitable Water Values are around 2″ over Hampton Roads.  That’s basically a measure of how much water you can wring out of the atmosphere.  It doesn’t mean that you will get 2″ of rain.  It means that you can have a high amount of rainfall, and 2″ of rain or more is possible.  Remember some storms sit for a long time over one area and use that moisture.  Others move through quickly.  So the main threat today is heavy rain and lightning.  Tonight a cold front will make it through and finally dry things out for tomorrow.  Highs will be in the 80s. 

The next story is the heat.  We’ll see highs in the mid-upper 90s Sunday through Tuesday.  Low-mid 90s on Saturday.  Some areas around the country will see the hottest weather so far this year.  We may even see 100 degrees one day if things come together.  The record highs are near 100 degrees.  So much for the lack of Summer weather. 

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler