Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Fog developing in parts of Virginia this Tuesday morning

Behind a cold front that is moving through central Virginia early this Tuesday morning, skies are clearing with light winds. Considering the recent dreary, damp days, there's plenty of moisture at the ground to support the development of fog where skies are clearing. As a result, visibilities are dropping to a quarter-of-a-mile in some parts of central Virginia. There is a Fog Advisory until 9 AM for the areas highlighted in grey on this map:

But other locations outside of the Advisory are also getting some light fog, including Jarratt. Here's a picture submitted this morning on Facebook by one of our CBS 6 viewers Debbie Lynn Allen of the fog in Jarratt, VA:

If you have fog pictures to share with us this morning, you can post them at my Facebook page by clicking here for the Wall. You can also tweet your pictures to me @SouthernRedRose.

Stay with CBS 6, we'll keep you ahead of the storm.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Update on Freezing Rain Potential


Evening data continues to suggest the threat for some freezing rain late Friday evening into early Saturday morning. The push of low-level cold air could be far enough south to include all of the metro area in a risk to see some light icing. The primary time period to see freezing will be between 9 PM and 3 AM, with freezing drizzle possible for a few hours longer, especially north of Richmond. I've updated the risk graphic to indicate where I think we'll see the best chance of ice. -Zach

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Freezing Rain Possible Saturday Morning


It appears as though the least welcomed type of winter weather could make an appearance in the state this weekend. A fairly strong (1028 mb) area of high pressure will build into New England Friday into Saturday, with the wind flow around this high moving in a clockwise direction. This air mass will be cold and dry, with the coldest air hugging close to the surface because of its relatively high density. The air will move freely southeast, south, and southwest, but will not be able to move west over the Appalachians. Instead of flowing up and over the mountains, the cold air will funnel down the east side of the mountain chain. This process is called "cold air damming", or "the wedge effect", and allows the shallow cold air associated with strong high pressure to spill as far south as Georgia along the east side of the Appalachians. Because the sub-freezing air will be so shallow, rain will fall in liquid form, but will freeze on contact to all objects at the surface. While the rain should be light during the time of sub-freezing surface temperatures, even a minor accretion of ice will cause problems. The graphic I created indicates where I think icing will be possible, and highlights where I think the greatest risk will exist. I'll continue to monitor the latest model data, and will have another update here tomorrow. -Zach