A very active afternoon and evening is expected across Southern and Southeastern Virginia, with severe thunderstorms capable of producing damaging winds, large hail, and tornadoes. The tornado threat this afternoon and evening is medium (or elevated) across Metro Richmond, extending into Southside Virginia and Hampton Roads. We will have to monitor any individual discrete storms that develop this afternoon as they will be the ones to monitor for the potential for tornadoes.
A warm front will move across the southern half of the state this afternoon. How far the warm front advances to the north remains a huge question. Thunderstorms will develop early this afternoon across Southwest Virginia, extending east into the New River and Roanoke Valleys. These storms will be capable of producing damaging winds, large hail, and an isolated tornado.
We’ll be watching 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. – that appears to be the current window to watch across South Central and Southern Virginia. We expect a few to potentially several storms to develop ahead of the main line. These storms could be large hail and tornado producers. You will want to find multiple ways of receiving weather warnings this afternoon and evening.
By this evening, the line of thunderstorms continues to move eastward. The severe threat will continue across portions of the Chesapeake Bay Region, with severe thunderstorms possible across Hampton Roads (Southeastern Virginia.) Damaging wind gusts and a few tornadoes will remain possible well into the evening. Additional storms may continue to fire to the west, so we may not be done completely with the severe threat until the early overnight hours orinto very early Saturday morning.
Stay ahead of the severe weather this afternoon by downloading the Virginia Weather Plus app on Android and iPhone.
Android:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goodbarber.vaweatherplus&gl=US
iPhone / iPad
https://apps.apple.com/ma/app/virginia-weather-plus/id1564925196
