RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for portions of the Northern Neck and Richmond area Saturday night. Residents are urged to move to an interior room on the first floor until the storm has passed.
In Central Virginia, the affected areas are the City of Richmond, Central Chesterfield County, Northwestern Charles City County, Western New Kent County, and Southeastern Henrico County.
The thunderstorm warning is in place until 10 p.m.
On the Northern Neck, he affected areas are Northwestern Northumberland County, Northwestern Richmond County, East central Caroline County, Westmoreland County and Northwestern Essex County.
Below you can see lightning captured in Chesterfield county tonight.
(Video: Lindsey Johnston)
Windy weather is coming to central Virginia! A strong storm system — making its way eastward across the United States — is expected to bring severe weather to the region on Saturday.
High Wind Warnings are now in effect from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west and Wind Advisories are in effect east to the Bay.
The winds will be similar to those felt by Virginians this year around Christmas, but quite a bit warmer. The thing to watch out for this weekend won’t be the rain — it’ll be the high winds!
Friday night will be cloudy, but warm with lows near 60. Occasional showers will pass by. The winds will be gusty, but stronger winds are still waiting in the wings.
Saturday morning is when the front will move by. That will bring a line of showers through the region from mid-morning until late afternoon.
There is the potential for some thunderstorms to our southeast early in the afternoon and there’s a low-end risk of severe weather over the southeastern part of the state.
It is going to get warm over us as the wind drives up to near 80 in spots.
When the showers come by early in the day we might get a “break” from the winds. But then they’ll howl in the afternoon and into the evening hours before they diminish on Sunday.
Here, gusts of 45-50 mph are possible.
To our west, gusts may go up to 60 mph or even higher at higher elevations.
Saturday is a VIPIR Alert Weather Day for the area. Residents are encouraged to bring in trash cans and unsecured lawn furniture on Friday night before they go to bed. Tree branches dropping and falling power lines are likely in spots making power outages also very possible. A wind advisory is now in effect for much of the Commonwealth.
These wind gusts will have the potential to snap tree branches, maybe topple a few trees, and cause power outages. A wise move this evening might be to get the lighter weight patio furniture and bring it in along with the plants and the trash cans.
The strong winds are expected to subside on Saturday evening as the strong cold front sweeps through, leading to improved conditions on Sunday with mostly sunny skies and highs in the lower 60s.
