First Warning Forecast: High heat and severe storms highlight start the week
Monday will start out this week with high heat that will be followed by strong to severe thunderstorms that will take us into Monday evening. Before the storms arrive, skies will be sunny through afternoon Monday, which in combination with increasing winds from the south and southwest will bring a rapid rise in temperatures. Heat advisories are in effect from noon through 7pm Monday for all areas just inland from the coast. Heat index levels could approach 105 or above with actual temperatures in the low to mid-90s, so be sure to use usual precautions when outdoors in the heat.
All of the area is under a risk for severe thunderstorms later in the day Monday through Monday evening, with the timing expected to peak over southeastern VA and eastern NC by early evening as storms move in from the west ahead of an advancing cold front. The atmospheric energy with this setup is particularly vigorous, and various levels of risk have been issued by the Storm Prediction Center. Yellow shaded areas are level 2 risk, and orange shades over inland VA a higher category level 3, enhanced risk. The modes of severe weather threat will be primarily damaging wind gusts, large hail, and flooding rainfall, but the risk for tornadoes is also possible. Stay alert Monday for any severe weather warnings that could be issued.
