Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Cloudy With Sprinkles And...Flakes??

We have a few sprinkles moving across the area. In addition, we have received a couple reports of some flurries! Temperatures are *just* cold enough in the upper atmosphere that this can happen!

Cooler Tuesday, Spring Freeze Wednesday

Colder, drier air will continue to filter into Central Virginia behind Monday's cold front. Highs will be about 10-15 degrees cooler today than on Monday, and I expect a widespread freeze by Wednesday morning. Winds will weaken Tuesday night, and skies will become mostly clear. This will aid in cooling overnight, allowing Wednesday morning temperatures to dip to around freezing.

It will not be unusual to have another freeze on Wednesday, April 8. In fact, April 8 is the date for the average last Spring freeze for Richmond! Could it be our last one this season? At this time, I do not see another deep cold plunge moving into our region in the next couple of weeks. However, Spring freezes have occurred as late as May 11 in Richmond (that one occurred in 1966).

Just in case you're wondering, the earliest last Spring freeze on record for Richmond is March 12, 1946. Our most recent freeze this year in Richmond was on March 25, when we had a low temperature of 28 degrees.

--Carrie