Summer heat builds ahead of late Thursday storm threat

Storms late Thursday tap into our hot air mass, creating the threat for a few strong to severe thunderstorms

ROANOKE, Va. – The heat continues to build following a beautiful holiday weekend.

As high pressure lingers over the Eastern U.S., we’ll feel the heat and humidity that’s commonplace for early summer.

Highs Tuesday reach the upper 80s and lower 90s outside of the mountains Tuesday afternoon.

High temperature forecast for Tuesday, 5/31/2022

Along the escarpment of the Blue Ridge is where we could see a few stray downpours, solely due to the heat, humidity and rising air along the mountains.

That’s also a possibility Wednesday, when temperatures reach maybe a degree or two higher than Tuesday.

High temperature forecast for Wednesday, 6/1/2022

Thursday will be quite hot.

At this point, however, we’ll be tracking a front to the west that will have already produced severe weather in other parts of the country. While the exact timing will continue to be ironed out, it appears as though any threat for severe weather here will be during the late day/evening hours.

Showers and storms increase late Thursday/Thursday evening

Localized wind damage and/or hail appear to be the main threats. Upon first glance, the threat for tornadoes (and the overall threat for severe weather) looks higher as you get toward the Delmarva Peninsula, but we’ll keep you posted nonetheless.

Severe weather threat for Thursday, 6/2/2022

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Following the passage of this front, temperatures and humidity levels will back off significantly.

Humidity levels drop significantly by Friday and Saturday

This makes for a comfortable weekend with morning lows in the 50s and afternoon highs in the 70s and lower 80s.

High temperature forecast for the first weekend of June 2022

At the same time, we’ll be keeping an eye on a potential tropical system.

Hurricane Agatha made landfall on the western side of Mexico Monday. As its energy and moisture cross into the Atlantic, the National Hurricane Center has pegged a 60% chance of tropical development within the next five days.

60% chance of tropical development near the Yucatan Peninsula within the next five days

Hurricane season begins Wednesday, and it is forecast to be an active one according to experts at Colorado State University, North Carolina State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.


About the Author:

Meteorologist Chris Michaels is an American Meteorological Society (AMS) Certified Broadcaster, forecasting weather conditions in southwest Virginia on WSLS 10 News from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. weekdays on Virginia Today.