Yesterday we hit 96 degrees at Norfolk International Airport.  Williamsburg got to 99.  But many heat indices rose to above 105 degrees.  Today we will still stay hot and humid, but we’re hoping that the clouds will build in through the afternoon.  Also, we are calling for some scattered showers and storms later today with heavy rain possible.  While this won’t break the heat by any means, we hope that it will keep the temperatures a couple of degrees cooler.  The heat index today is still going to be between 100 and 105 in the metro area.  There are no heat advisories at this time, but there may be one issued later today.    A very slow moving cold front is currently stalled out over southern Pennsylvania.  It will resume a slow southerly motion later today.  Near and south of the front there will be some strong to severe storms.  We are far enough south though that we are not in the slight risk for severe weather, but heavy rain is possible in any of the storms that form out there this afternoon.

Today’s Forecast

Tonight we will see a few showers and storms continue as well as the heat.  Lows will be near 80.  Tomorrow the front will slowly sink through the region.  We will have a high chance for showers and storms from tomorrow afternoon through Saturday.  The update now is for the front to stall out near the state line over the weekend.  I alluded to this yesterday.  This will bring  us a chance for rain both on Saturday and Sunday now.  We are still expecting to be on the cooler side of the front, but stay tuned as the forecast has been continually slowing down the front and changing it’s position. 

Weekend Forecast

The rain is a good thing for most folks in the region.  I took a quick survey on facebook this morning, and lots of folks said they really need rain.  I live on the southside and I’m actually doing pretty good for rain.  Norfolk is running close to the annual and monthly average rainfall.  But I know the recent heavy rain has been very scattered in nature.  We’ve even had some localized flooding in the last 7 days.  So I think the area is very polarized when it comes to who really needs the rain.  The front will probably dissipate by Monday, or it will move back north as a warm front.  This will give us a few more showers and storms that afternoon.  It looks like there may be another cool front moving through next Tuesday, but I’d like to see some more model runs before I call for it officially.  The U.S. Drought Monitor update comes out later this morning. 

(UPDATE).  The update is out now.  I figured I’d just post it in this blog as an update.  Here is the recent image:

US Drought Monitor

Interesting that a lot of our area is not in a drought officially despite recent comments by local folks. 

 Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler