RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — It is a VIPIR Alert Day for Central Virginia as we look for the possibility of strong to possibly severe thunderstorms to move across through 10 p.m.
A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for Chesterfield County, the City of Hopewell, Henrico County, the City of Colonial Heights, the City of Petersburg and Dinwiddie County.
Residents are advised that penny-sized hail and 60 mph winds are possible.
The warning remains in effect until 7:45 p.m.
There is a severe thunderstorm watch in effect until 10 p.m. for all of Central Virginia.
At the same time, we are tracking a powerful cold front to our west which has been responsible for the severe weather over the central part of the United States for the past two days.
As that cold front moves into Central Virginia and mixes with our warm air — and a little bit of humidity — it will begin to spark off thunderstorms.
Those thunderstorms will move closer to metro Richmond from 4 to 7 p.m. and then out to the east, across the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck from 7 to 9 p.m.
The set-up looks like this will be one where we will have individual thunderstorms that will create a line that will move through Central Virginia. Those individual thunderstorms will have the potential to produce strong gusty winds more than 60 miles per hour and possibly some small hail.
If you receive any hail, it will probably be pea or marble size but not much larger than that. Any thunderstorm that forms will have the potential to produce locally heavy downpours in a very short period of time.
After 10 p.m., the risk of thunderstorms will be over for Central Virginia and the severe weather threat will be done. However, this system will be very slow to clear over the next two days. Therefore, we will stay with cloudy skies along with showers for Friday and Saturday and it will be noticeably cooler with highs in the middle 50s.
