Hurricane Season begins!

Barry is here!

The Atlantic hurricane season has officially begun, and we've got a storm out there this weekend. Tropical Storm Barry formed in the eastern Gulf of Mexico late Friday afternoon. The storm saw some brief intensification early Friday evening (with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph), but then convection spread out and no further strengthening is expected. The worst weather is on the east side of the storm, and is affecting Florida with heavy rain and the possibility of isolated tornadoes.

Barry is expected to make landfall along the northern Gulf Coast of Florida Saturday afternoon, then move through the extreme Southeastern U.S. bringing some heavy rain. We expect some of the rain to affect Central Virginia, beginning Sunday morning in our southern counties. The storm should weaken and probably lose its tropical characterisitics before getting this far north, and will pass off the Outer Banks of North Carolina Sunday afternoon and evening. Showers and thunderstorms are expected across the region Sunday, with the heaviest rain occurring east of Interstate 95. West of Metro Richmond, the precipitation will be more scattered in nature.

The coming work week and beyond...

In the wake of the storm, a front arriving from the west could trigger a few afternoon thunderstorms on Monday. This front may hang around on Tuesday as well, but then a drier pattern should set in by Wednesday. An upper level ridge will build east, and that will lead to rising temperatures. We could be reaching 90 or higher by Friday 6/8 and the longer range guidance shows this ridge could be rather dominant the following week, so get used to the heat!