Thursday, August 20, 2009

Drought Update

Much of Central and Northern Virginia and the Peninsulas are in abnormally dry conditions, as shown in today's Drought Monitor update.
This is a big increase in "abnormally dry" conditions in the state, when compared to last week's report.
Richmond International Airport, which is in the abnormally dry ranking area, is -6.12" from average for year-to-date precipitation.
Scattered strong thunderstorms will be possible in the state once again Thursday afternoon, and into this weekend as well, but the downside to these storms is that they produce only locally heavy rainfall amounts, versus a widespread steady rain event that benefits large areas.

Bill Still A Major Hurricane

After weakening slightly over the last several hours, Hurricane Bill was downgraded early Wednesday to a Category Three storm, but is still a major hurricane with maximum sustained winds at 125mph. Bill is now moving Northwest as opposed to its recent West-Northwest motion, and should turn more northerly this weekend as it passes near Bermuda as a Cat 3 or 4 storm. This weekend anywhere along the East Coast, large swells will be possible as Bill remains offshore. Bill may clip parts of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland early next week as it weakens and accelerates to the Northeast into the much cooler North Atlantic waters.