Saturday Evening Update

Light to moderate rainfall continues Saturday evening in Virginia as a large, fast-moving storm system approaches. The cold front associated with this low will sweep through Central Virginia Sunday morning shortly after sunrise, ending rain chances and leaving partly cloudy skies for the rest of Sunday. Winds will turn to the Northwest at 10 to 15 mph as the front passes. High temperatures for the beginning of the week will be back at early January average levels before a cold high settles in later in the week. I expect many places to fall into the teens by the end of the week, with highs barely making the freezing mark in some spots.
--Carrie

Rain Likely Saturday Night

Rain is likely in Central Virginia beginning late Saturday night into early Sunday morning around sunrise. A fast-moving storm system will sweep a cold front through the state around sunrise Sunday, keeping our rain chances to the overnight period late Saturday and early Sunday. Winds will turn to the Northwest as this front passes, ushering in slightly cooler air to Central Virginia for the beginning of the week.

But even colder air is expected to settle into Central Virginia by the latter half of the work week. Another fast-moving storm system will bring a quick chance for snow flurries and showers in the state on Tuesday as it also brings a reinforcing shot of colder air.

Back to Saturday...I do expect mostly cloudy to overcast skies through the day and evening, but a few lucky parts of Virginia may see brief glimpses of the night sky in the couple hours after sunset. If you are one of the lucky few, you will see the "biggest" Full Moon of the year Saturday night. The Moon will rise in the East at sunset tonight, being the closest to the Earth in its elliptical orbit for 2009. This point is called "perigee," which is a term you may recall from Chief Meteorologist Zach Daniel's blog posting in December, when we saw the biggest Full Moon of 2008. Check out his explanation from December 12th in the Blog Archive. But, since most of us will not be able to see this beautiful space show tonight, click here for shots from other locations around the world.

--Carrie

Weekend Rain Chances

A storm system currently moving through the Central U.S. will approach Central Virginia Saturday night. This will bring a decent chance for rain in much of the state Saturday night, continuing overnight into Sunday morning. I do not think this will be a total weekend washout, with most of the rain falling overnight and early Sunday morning. The rest of our weekend will have partly cloudy skies and seasonable temperatures for early January.

Our next chance for precipitation comes Tuesday, and conditions may be right for snowfall. We will be watching this storm as it tracks toward Virginia early next week. At this time, it does appear that colder air will overspread the region and stay for the middle and end of next week.

Have a great weekend!
--Carrie