Drizzly Morning

Drizzle and scattered light rain showers are moving westward through much of Central Virginia early Thursday morning, keeping the roads wet and requiring drivers to use their windshield wipers. The precipitation is not heavy, but it's just enough to need to allow a little extra time on your morning commute. CBS 6 Traffic Reporter Amanda Meadows says that drivers are already slowing down in the usual "hot spots" because of the wet roads and light rain.

I expect the mist and light rain to continue through the morning commute, with a reprieve from precipitation around the middle of the day today, before more scattered showers move in from the coastal low pressure system that has brought us rain through the week.

Fred The 2nd Major Hurricane Of 2009

Hurricane Fred continued to strengthen Wednesday, becoming the second major hurricane of the 2009 season. As of mid-day Wednesday, Fred has maximum sustained winds up to 120mph now, which makes it a Category Three hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. Fred is in the far eastern Atlantic, and poses no threat to land.

Fred is unusual because of its strength and location. Hurricane Fred is only the third major hurricane on record located so far east in the Atlantic Basin (East of 35W), and it is the strongest hurricane on record this far south and east. The National Hurricane Center has reliable tropical observations back to the 1960s, upon which they base those statistics.

Wet Start Back To School

Many Virginia schools are back in session today, and perhaps the dreary, rainy weather fits the mood of reluctant students? In any case, this is beneficial, widespread rain for much of Central and Eastern Virginia. Periods of rain will continue off-and-on Tuesday as a low pressure system tracks from Eastern North Carolina into Southeastern Virginia, with the highest rain totals expected along and east of I-95. The low will linger in the region through Thursday, keeping rain chances in our forecast.

Since Monday afternoon, 0.81" have fallen at Richmond International Airport, with half of that this Tuesday morning.

Here are some other tallies so far:
Chesapeake 5.67"
Norfolk 5.44"
Virginia Beach 4.92"
Portsmouth 4.57"
Williamsburg 3.28"
Jarratt/Purdy 1.2"
Wakefield 1.1"
Staunton 0.56"
Ashland 0.5"
Fredericksburg 0.3"
Emporia 0.1"

The highest rain totals through this evening will continue to be east of I-95, where flooding may still occur. In Central Virginia, drizzle and mist will linger through the afternoon. Tomorrow morning, areas of fog will likely develop in the region after such a soaking rain.