Tornado Watch Until 4 AM Thursday

Strong Storm System Wednesday

A strong upper-level storm system will track through the Southeast U.S. Wednesday, bringing strong winds and periods of heavy rain to the region through tonight. There may also be severe thunderstorms from Wednesday afternoon into tonight in the yellow highlighted area above. The primary threat in Virginia will be damaging winds, but there is also a small possibility for isolated tornadoes as well, mainly close to Norfolk/Suffolk/VA Beach.

Moisture will surge northward into Central Virginia Wednesday afternoon and tonight with southerly winds 15-25mph.

This will allow temperatures to continue rising after sunset into the upper 50's around Midnight. With the increased low-level moisture, strong upper-lift, and vertical wind shear, rain and thunderstorms will be possible late afternoon into the overnight in Central Virginia. Here's the upper-level vorticity around Midnight:

Here's a snapshot of the CAPE around Midnight:

In addition to the periods of heavy rain, winds will be gusty around 30mph in Central Virginia this evening and overnight. If you have any lightweight outdoor Christmas decorations or furniture, you might want to secure that today. There is also a Wind Advisory for the orange highlighted counties below. Along the mountains, gusts may reach 50mph, which would affect high-profile vehicles traveling along I-81.
We'll be keeping a close watch on this developing situation today and tonight!