Dense Fog Thursday Morning

After Wednesday's soaking rainfall in Central Virginia, winds remained light overnight with decreasing cloud-cover higher up. These factors combined have allowed widespread dense fog to develop early Thursday morning, with most visibilities at a quarter-mile or less. There is a Dense Fog Advisory in effect for most of the area until 9 a.m., but it will take most of the morning for the fog to completely lift. Fog will be at its densest in low-lying spots and also along rivers, creeks, and streams. Skies will become partly cloudy this afternoon, allowing for a warmer afternoon in the mid-70's area wide.

Soaking Rain Showers

A good, soaking rain will continue to track northeast through Central Virginia today as an upper-level storm system passes overhead. Totals should run about a quarter of an inch or less, but this is still welcome rainfall as Richmond is now about 1.5" below average for the month. We'll have another round of rain this weekend as a large storm system approaches from the west. Here is the infrared satellite image Wednesday morning with the two storms depicted:

The second storm over the Western U.S. has a history of already producing severe weather out west, and this system is expected to bring strong to potentially severe thunderstorms to Central Virginia by Sunday.

Much-Needed Rain Chances

A couple of storm systems will bring some much-needed rainfall to Central Virginia, as our rainfall deficit has been growing over the past several weeks from our dry (and unseasonably hot at times!) stint of weather. Richmond is now about 1.5" below average for the month of April, just barely hanging on in the positive side for the year-to-date total (+0.52" from average). The first storm will arrive Wednesday and bring showers to the Commonwealth from around sunrise through Wednesday night. But a much larger, stronger, and slower-moving storm will arrive this weekend and linger in the region into early next week. We could also see strong thunderstorms in Central Virginia Sunday as the upper system gets closer to Virginia. We'll be tracking that system and let you know of any potential severe impacts.