Today we are going to see record heat. Yesterday an extra amount of sun produced high temps in the lower 80s already with 70s near the shore. The warm front that moved north of the region has pushed even farther north today.
There is a cold front to the west, but it is still pretty far away. Today we’ll be in a large warm/humid zone. Winds will be strong out of the southwest as high pressure is anchored to our southeast and low pressure over the Ohio River Valley is moving east. Skies will be partly cloudy through the day. The wind will run out of the southwest at 10-20mph with gusts up to 30-35mph. All of these factors will push high temperatures up into the mid-upper 80s. I’m calling for 87 degrees in Norfolk. The current record is 84 degrees (1948). Elizabeth City is also likely to break a record. They are going for 88. The current record is 87 (1945). I’m not expecting rain through the day. However, some isolated showers or a lone thunderstorm may pop up by the evening.
The cold front will arrive tonight, and it will start dropping temps. They will drop to the upper 50s as winds turn out of the north. We’ll have increasing clouds and showers overnight. By tomorrow morning we’ll have a lot of rain in the region.
The cold front will drop to our south through the day. Temperatures will actually drop from the upper 50s in the morning to the low 50s in the afternoon. Winds will run out of the north at 10-15mph with gusts to 25mph. The chance for rain will decrease in the afternoon, but a few showers will linger. Some spotty showers could continue until the early evening. However, we’ll finally dry out Saturday night into Sunday. We’ll be partly cloudy on Sunday with high temps in the lower 50s. We won’t warm up much next week. Highs will be in the 50s for about 3-4 days. We will likely have another big warmup towards the end of next week, and possibly into next weekend.
As far as some outdoor features. Today is ok for walking, biking, and jogging, but the wind could be strong enough to make it tough at times.
There are small craft advisories for boaters. (Possibly up to gale if the wind does increase). Beach goers need to keep a distance from others. Plus, the water temps are still in the 50s. Have a good weekend, and be safe!
Meteorologist Jeremy Wheeler