Danny has formed in the Atlantic.  Slow strengthening is expected over the next few days and Danny *could* impact Hampton Roads and North Carolina this weekend.  A lot of uncertainty remains regarding the strength and intensity.  A few hundred miles east or west will make a big difference!  Stay tuned.

Meteorologist Cheryl Nelson

With all the stories in the news about the bars “Have a Nice Day Cafe” and “Bar Norfolk” getting padlocked by  security and no longer wanted in Waterside by the city of Norfolk, I can’t help but think about the old Waterside from back in the day.  Even though I grew up in Virginia Beach, Waterside was a destination for people of all ages from all over Hampton Roads when it first opened.

The  Fudgery, Phillips Seafood, Pierces Pitt Barbeque, a pizza shop, a Chinese restaurant, lots of boutiques. Those were the days!

Some say the city of Norfolk recruited the big name chain bars to help revive the waterfront building, but  is now looking for something different to bring back the family friendly atmosphere at all times.

town point park

The renovation of  Town Point Park outside of Waterside is gorgeous and it’s slowly bringing folks back to hang out on the lawn, run through the fountain, walk or run along the border.

The commemorative bricks are fun to look at- especially when you recognize the names!  Inside Waterside, you can watch a puppet show, grab a bite to eat, listen to live music or work out at the Gym Downtown’s new location there.  The retail appears to be rebounding…  there’s a new Foxers lingerie boutique, the popular Virginia store and a few other old faithful shops that remain.

I think Norfolk city leaders should take a trip to Columbus, Ohio and check out the North Market.

Here’s a description from its web page:

I visited the North Market for the first time in the spring and loved it!  The best thing about Waterside is it’s on the water!! Imagine the possibilites of spending the entire day eating, relaxing, exercising- whatever you want to do.  Hopefully it will continue to bounce back and folks will get on the same page about what they really want it to be.  What are your memories and thoughts about Waterside? Please share them below.

Watching the Tropics

Hurricane Bill is long gone, but the tropics aren’t completely quiet.  The National Hurricane Center is watching two areas.  The area circled in orange just northeast of the Leeward Islands is the most interesting feature this evening.  This area shows a tropical wave interacting with an upper-level low moving toward the northwest.  The computer models have conflicting ideas regarding what to do with this area of unsettled weather.  We’ll keep an eye on it as the moisture could impact our weekend weather here in Hampton Roads and Northeast North Carolina. 

Meteorologist Cheryl Nelson

Hurricane Bill, soon to become an extra-tropical storm, continues to race off to the northeast at over 30 mph.  After lashing Nova Scotia with wind and rain, Bill will move over Newfoundland overnight and then cross the Atlantic.  By the end of the week, Bill’s remnants will be a pretty big storm for the British Isles. 

Bill's Forecast Track

Aside from Bill, the National Hurricane Center is watching a tropical wave east of the Lesser Antilles.  Otherwise, the tropics are pretty quiet. 

Meteorologist Cheryl Nelson

Here’s some more surfers from yesterday taking advantage of the rare high waves.  Bobby Kemp sent this in from the Outer Banks.  He also sent this one:

You can see the waves compared to the height of the pier.  Some of the waves were higher.  Especially around high tide.  These were from around the South Nags Head and Rodanthe areas.  Hurricane Bill is now headed for Newfoundland.  I’m told it’s pronounced as it’s written, but I’ve always heard different.  Anyway, we will see a high threat for rip currents today, but the waves have already started going down. 

We also had the flooding yesterday from the thick moisture and cold front.  We had widespread street flooding as expected.  See the previous 2 or 3  blogs where I mentioned it.  Ramon Smith sent us this pic:

This was from Norfolk, but it was a common sight acrosss a good portion of the area.  The Southside, Peninsula, inland, just about everywhere saw some street flooding.  It’s becoming a little too common.  Some folks are taking it up with their city leaders.  Norfolk International Airport picked up a record 3.4″ of rain.  Now we’re up to 11.98″ of rain for the month.  That’s 8.52″ above the average.  We’ve had 32.67″ for the year so far.  Most of that fell in the last 3 months.  Some folks took advantage of the flooding.  Here’s a fun pic from Kim Daugherty:

We can’t all canoe down the street.  But if this flooding keeps up, then we may have to look into buying a paddle boat to get to work.  Hey, it would help out on gas….

Today we’ll see less coverage of showers and storms.  The front is still stalled out over Hampton Roads, but slightly drier conditions are trying to trickle in.  Even with the more scattered showers today there is still the potential for a strong storm and a few downpours.  Hopefully, this will be very isolated.  Hopefully. 

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

Bill is a weaker category 2 hurricane passing by without much ado.  Waves being the exception.  Now it’s on its way to Canada.  These are some photos sent in by David Collins.  He was around the Rodanthe/Mirlo beach area this morning.  Look at this brave surfer:

It looks like something out of a movie.  Scary but awesome.  He also sent us this photo of the highway a little north of the S curves. 

You can see some overwash, but the vehicles were getting through. 

Finally, the rain is here from the cold front.  Here’s a snapshot of Super Doppler 10 from about 3:30pm this afternoon:

There was a flash flood warning for parts of the metro shortly after that.  Tomorrow we’ll probably have some more photos of street flooding.  Check out the previous blogs for more on Bill and some satellite photos.  Be safe everyone!

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

Bill is on a northward track now.  As predicted the storm is staying well offshore.  Here’s a satellite shot from this morning:

It’s not looking too strong on the satellite.  The eye is not clear, but there are some strong winds out there indicated by the National Hurricane Center.  We won’t see any winds from Bill here in our area.  We do still expect some big waves though.  A High Surf Advisory is in effect for our Virginia coastline.  A Coastal Flood Warning is in effect for the Outer Banks of North Carolina for some possible overwash along highway 12.  That is most likely at high tide.  High tide at Duck North Carolina is at 9:30am and 9:45pm.  We could also see some minor tidal flooding in the area.  Most likely tonight between 9 and 11pm.  A high threat for rip currents exists today and tomorrow. 

A cold front is moving closer to us this afternoon.  Ample moisture is in place to create some localized street flooding later this afternoon into the evening.  Here’s today’s weather map:

After today we’ll see what Bill does to the northeast states and Canada. 

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

The latest satellite is showing signs that Bill may be weakening even further.  Here’s the satellite shot from this evening:

Remember this is an enhanced satellite.  So red is the tall cloud tops from thunderstorms around the center.  There is a lack of tall storms north and west of Bill.  It is going over warm water, but I think it wrapped in some dry air earlier today that took a bite out of the storm.  The latest sustained winds were about 105mph.  So it is a category 2 hurricane.  It’s moving NNW now at about 20mph.  It’s fast speed northward may also be inhibiting storm development a little.  Regardless, we still expect large waves here in the area.  10-16ft waves are forecast along the Outer Banks.  (A little higher offshore).  8-12ft waves along Virginia Beach and the Eastern shore.  When I covered storms in the past I noticed big waves hitting the shore, but they don’t necessarily move inland.  The waves go up and down, but the average water level may or may not rise.  We’ll see tides and a weak surge create 3-4ft water level rises.  This could lead to minor tidal flooding between 9 and 10:30am and 10 and 11pm.  Again this is minor tidal flooding that’s expected.  For reference minor tidal flooding starts to occur at about 5ft (high tide) at Sewell’s point.  We expect a rise around 4 ft at high tide tomorrow.  It may be a little higher at the Atlantic coast.  A coastal flood warning is in effect for possible overwash across the Outer Banks.  High surf advisories are in effect for Virginia Beach and the Eastern Shore. 

A cold front will move in from the west tomorrow and stall out.  This could lead to some heavy downpours with localized street flooding possible.  Luckily the heaviest rain is expected in the afternoon when low tide occurs.  We still don’t expect any wind from Bill, but the moisture interacting with the front could lead to a couple of inches of rain. Scattered to occasional showers and storms are expected on and off through the day.  

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

Tonight Bill was still going out in the Atlantic.  It was about 1000 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras moving northeast at about 15-20mph.  Winds were 125mph, but I noticed that there was a break on the western side of the hurricane.  This could lead to a temporary weakening of the storm.  The good news is that the computer models are in agreement with the path.

This kind of agreement is almost unheard of when it comes to tropical systems.  It gives us a high confidence that the storm will stay out to sea.  The Navy model, GFS (Global Forecast System) model, and others keep Bill a few hundred miles away from Hampton Roads.  It also keeps it to the west of Bermuda.  Winds should not affect here nor there.  Well maybe a few gusts in Bermuda.  However, we can expect large waves along the Atlantic shoreline.  Waves could reach as high as 14-20ft offshore.  7-14ft near shore.  Minor tidal flooding will probably occur on Saturday along with some beach erosion.  Surfers will be aching to get in the water, but be careful.  There will be a HIGH threat for rip currents on Friday and Saturday.  So we will feel Bill’s effects even though it will be hundreds of miles away.  A trough of low pressure and a cold front will bring us a chance for storms Friday afternoon and again on Saturday.  This will also be the motivator to push Bill off to the northeast into the North Atlantic. 

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler