Frost advisories have been issued for Virginia Beach, Currituck county, N.C., and Northampton County, VA.  (update: Portsmouth and Norfolk are included in the advisory). Freeze warnings are up everywhere else.  Bring in the sensitive pets and plants.  I used to have a dog in Illinois when I was young.  It was a beagle that lived outside in a dog house.  Even for most of the Winter.  That was pretty common where I lived.  That dog used to be fine in weather that we call cold here, but there were of course times that we had to bring him inside.  You probably won’t need to drip the faucets unless you have pipes that are exposed to the elements or near some thin walls.  Temperatures should only drop below the freezing mark for a couple of hours.  Plants, however, will be in trouble as the freeze will kill even the mightiest of pansies. 

  I won’t talk too much about Ida, but for now it is a strong tropical depression.  It will probably become a tropical storm in the next 24 hours as it has moved back over water.  It still has the potential to move towards Florida.  We’ll update more on that tomorrow.

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

Ida is over land and has been weakening.  It is a tropical storm now with maximum sustained winds of 60mph.  It was briefly a hurricane before making landfall this morning over eastern Nicaragua.  The storm is expected to keep moving on a general northward motion.  If it survives and goes back over water, then it may restrengthen.  The latest track from the National Hurricane Center www.nhc.noaa.gov shows that Ida could thread the needle and pass between the Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba.  There is plenty of warm ocean water for the storm to feed off of, but the wind shear will be moderate.  The forecast will likely undergo some changes over the next 24 hours.  As Jon Cash mentioned in the previous blog, it’s even possible that we could even get some rain from the remnants of Ida.  That’s possible, but not likely.

  Locally, we have an offshore non-tropical low that is actually far away.  However, the low is expected to strengthen and increase our winds out of the North/Northwest.  (mostly over the water).  Winds near the shore may gust to over 30mph tonight into early tomorrow.  Then, the winds will die off Friday night.  That’s when the bottom drops out and temperatures area wide will drop to the 30s.  We’ll probably see widespread frost and a possible inland freeze. 

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

After a super-quiet hurricane season, hurricane Ida formed near the Central American coast early this morning. This is not unusual. Prime locations for late season storms are in the southern Gulf of Mexico and the Carribean. Why? The jet stream drops south through the Fall season and tends to rip apart thunderstorms from centralizing around a central core or low pressure system. The Fall jet stream has not made it that far south as of yet and the water temps are still very warm…above 80 degrees…the temp your need for tropical system formation. Where is it going. It is moving inland now and whatever is left of it should eventually make it into the Gulf of Mexico later in the weekend or early next week. It’s way to early to tell if we could get some rain from that later next week…but stay tuned! Crazier things have happened…

Jon Cash

Ok…you’re right… all the doomsdayers out there kept saying:  “Something could still happen this hurricane season”.  “It’s not over”…  And so Ida was born this afternoon to prove that you can never count out mother nature too early.  This image is from the National Hurricane Center www.nhc.noaa.gov .  Ida is a healthy tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 60mph.  The storm is expected to move northwest and affect Central America with some gusty winds and heavy rain.  Flooding and mudslides are the main threat from Ida.  If it survives and goes back over water, then it could reintensify before moving towards the Yucatan Peninsula.  It may shake things up a little down that way, but it has no bearing on our forecast. 

  Our local forecast is actually chilly.  Tomorrow we’ll see mid 60s (not too bad), but on Friday winds will be NNE at 15-25mph with higher gusts.  Temperatures will be in the low-mid 50s.  Futuretrak temps are even forecasting upper 40s at Norfolk Friday afternoon.  That may be a little too cold, but it will be a chilly November day. 

Finally, (just for fun) remember last year that we had snow in November.  Here’s the blog from last November about the event: http://blogs.wavy.com/2008/11/21/snow-in-november/ 

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

After a couple days of showers and drizzle, clouds may still be around as you head out to the polls Tuesday morning.  However, expect skies to clear as the day wears on.  For those of you who will be voting in the afternoon, make sure you have your sunglasses if you have  to stand outside in line in the sunshine.  High temperatures will be a bit warmer than it’s been lately.  Highs will be in the middle 60s.  If you’re waiting until Tuesday evening to vote, expect clear skies and temperatures falling back into the 50s, so be sure to bring a light jacket.

Meteorologist Cheryl Nelson

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Things should be good for the trick-or-treaters this evening.  We may see a sprinkle inland during the evening, but overall it will be mostly cloudy and mild.  Sunset is at 6:09 pm.  Before the evening we’ll see very warm temperatures and a very nice day.  Highs will be in the lower 80s.  The record is 84 at Norfolk and Elizabeth City.  We may tie that in Elizabeth City, but we probably won’t reach it at Norfolk International. 

After today the bottom drops out.  Highs tomorrow will be near 60.  Temperatures will probably fall to the 50s in the afternoon.  Highs will be in the 50s and 60s for the next few days.  You may want to winterize your home a little earlier this year.  I’ve already put up plastic over the drafty windows in my home.  I cover the vents that go to the crawl space so that the cold air doesn’t flow in so freely.  I think it helps.  It’s not air-tight, but the flow isn’t so strong.  This helps the insulation that is down there.  Happy Halloween and don’t forget to turn the clocks back tonight.  Also change the batteries in your smoke detectors.  Be safe everyone. 

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

Warm Temps, Clouds, Dogs in Vans?  This photo was sent in from Stephanie in Poquoson.  Xena (shown here) was in the annual Bow Wow Pet Parade which benefits Hampton’s Humane Society.  I’ve never dressed up my dog for Halloween, but I have given her a bone for Christmas.  By the way, never give dogs chocolate.  It’s not good for them. 

  Ok, so what’s the Halloween forecast?  Well… we will have partly cloudy to mostly cloudy skies.  Winds will be breezy out of the south.  High temps for the day will be in the upper 70s to near 80, but temperatures will drop to the lower 70s by trick-or-treat time.  Sunset will be at 6:09pm.   Rain is expected to move in after midnight.  Hopefully it doesn’t come in early.  There is a good chance for rain on Sunday though as the next cold front flips in here from the west. 

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

The forecast has been variable to say the least.  The 7 day has been constantly changing.  This is due to some big and unseasonable cold air masses that have been swinging through the country like Tarzan on caffeine.  It’s hard for the computer models to handle these features.  This weather pattern isn’t expected to change any time soon.  Today we warmed up into the mid/upper 70s.  Tomorrow we’ll see northeast flow return.  Highs will be in the 60s Thursday and Friday.  The warmup now comes on Saturday where highs will be in the upper 70s.  (80s inland?)  So things are looking good for Halloween.  Fair and mild during the evening.  I’ll try to provide a little more detail tomorrow or Friday in another blog. 

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

The leaves continue to turn shades of orange, yellow and red all across Virginia and North Carolina. 

This photo is from Bob in Wachapreague on the Eastern Shore.  Thanks Bob! 

Please continue to email your fall foliage photos to us at weather@wavy.com.

Meteorologist Cheryl Nelson

The leaves are changing across Virginia and North Carolina.  October is my favorite time of the year! 

In the mountains of VA and NC, there is 50-75% change in color.  The Piedmont has 25-50% color and so far there is less than 25% change in Hampton Roads and northeast NC.  Expect peak color within the next one to three weeks depending on location.

Please send your fall foliage pictures to us at weather@wavy.com.  We’d love to see them!

Meteorologist Cheryl Nelson