Meteorologist Kristy Steward's First Warning Forecast
Happy Thursday evening! Today has been a drier, but still steamy day. A cool front is approaching and will move through Friday. That will cool us down to the mid 80s Friday and Saturday, but also bring us a lot more rain. Scattered heavy rain and thunderstorms will begin late tonight/early Friday morning and last into earlier Friday night. The heaviest most widespread rain is likely Friday afternoon and evening. We are under a level 2 risk for flash flooding and a Flash Flood Watch from 6 AM Friday – 10 PM Friday as localized rainfall amounts of 3”+ is possible.
Friday through Sunday we will also be dealing with some impacts from Tropical Storm Henri. On Friday, Henri is expected to turn north and strengthen into a hurricane. While it will be far enough offshore it won’t be impacting us on land much, it will bring us a rough surf this weekend. We’re looking at 3-5 ft waves along Virginia Beach and 5-7 ft waves in the Outer Banks. This will cause a high rip current risk and it is recommended to stay out of the water this weekend. Listen to lifeguards and pay attention to flags on the beach before entering the water.
On Saturday, we could see isolated to widely scattered showers/storms from the far outer bands of Henri, but not expecting anything severe.
Sunday into the first half of next week, a high pressure system builds across the southeastern U.S. and brings us drier, warmer weather. Highs back in the upper 80s to low 90s.
Meteorologist Kristy Steward
