Meteorologist Kristy Steward's First Warning Forecast
Happy Friday evening! We have a dry cold front passing through that will help drop temperatures and bring breezy northerly winds gusting up to 30 MPH tonight. That cold front combined with a mostly clear sky will have temperatures plunging into the mid to upper 20s, feeling like the mid to lower teens.
Saturday is going to be a very blustery day. Highs in the mid 30s with gusty north winds persisting, making it feel like the mid 20s. It’s also going to be cloudy, but mostly dry ahead of that strong low pressure system headed our way Sunday.
Sunday is the day to be mindful of. We will have widespread precipitation mainly from mid-morning until the middle of the night Sunday. Temperatures start in the mid to upper 20s, rising to near 50° later in the afternoon. The center of the low still looks like it will track just to our west, so that means majority of this precipitation will fall as rain across Hampton Roads & northeastern NC. Snow will mainly be along and west of I-95. However, right as the precipitation is moving in mid-morning Sunday, we may see a brief mix and our inland communities could start off with snow. It will only last a few hours though, then it will transition to rain. Inland may see a light dusting up to half an inch. Whatever may fall and accumulate will quickly get washed away with warming temperatures and widespread rain. In total, we’re expecting 1-1.5” rain.
The other concern on Sunday is the wind. 20-30 MPH sustained ENE winds could gust up to 45 MPH. That will bring a very rough surf with waves up to 12 feet in the Atlantic. It will also bring us tidal flooding, especially Sunday night. Nuisance flooding is expected Saturday and Sunday mornings. Moderate flooding Sunday night around 9 PM. 2-3 feet of inundations is possible.
This low pressure system will continue to move north and exit the Mid-Atlantic early Monday. Then, clouds will clear out. Mostly dry Monday and Tuesday with highs in the mid 40s.
Ahead of a cold front, Wednesday warms up to our seasonal normals with highs in the lower 50s. The cold front passes through Wednesday night and brings scattered showers late Wednesday night into early Thursday morning. It once again knocks temperatures back down to the low to mid 40s Thursday and mid 30s Friday.
Next Friday we have another chance at seeing scattered snow showers. So snow lovers, once again, you can cross your fingers for measurable snow Friday!
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