Crazy Weather Lately (Hampton, Suffolk: oceanfront, 2014, home)

[Spazkat9696]

Today was a bit nuts. I never thought we'd have to worry about tornados in VAB. My drive home was crazy. I have never seen so much water on 264. There were cars stopped everywhere on the interstate and people were stuck driving through high water (stupid). The midtown tunnel had to be closed due to water, and the roof at Lynnhaven mall caved in. The pictures of the damage, although not as bad as Midwest storms, are dramatic. At last count there were still 2 people in critical condition from storm related injuries. So let's recap our July, we've had a hurricane, 2 tornados and flooding during a freak storm, and next week the polar vortex (yep same one) is returning leaving us with highs in the 70s!!! Can you believe highs in the 70s in VAB in the middle of July. I'm afraid for what may come next. There are mumblings that this winter may be worse than last. At this point I'm ready to forget the pool and just get the yard leveled. The weather hasn't been good for the pool this year or last...........

[Lindsey1151]

Yea I know! its like The Day After Tomorrow in real life Lol! Also I wouldn't worry about next week 70 degrees is nothing! Since Im from NYC and we get 70 degree weather all the time in the summer! Now if the temperature was going to be in the negative 20's and snowing next week in July Then I'll be worrying!

[Spazkat9696]

70s here in the summer are rare. I'm not worried so much as finding this all weird.

[RosemaryT]

I've lived here for most of my life (minus a 12-year stint in St. Louis), and I'd say it's all within the range of normal (but perhaps at the outer edges)!

We've had tornados in years past, and we've had extreme rains, too.

The biggest problem I see is that we've had such heat and such little rain. I'm grateful for the rain. At least it refilled the resevoir!

[UHgrad]

Originally Posted by Spazkat9696

Today was a bit nuts. I never thought we'd have to worry about tornados in VAB. My drive home was crazy. I have never seen so much water on 264. There were cars stopped everywhere on the interstate and people were stuck driving through high water (stupid). The midtown tunnel had to be closed due to water, and the roof at Lynnhaven mall caved in. The pictures of the damage, although not as bad as Midwest storms, are dramatic. At last count there were still 2 people in critical condition from storm related injuries. So let's recap our July, we've had a hurricane, 2 tornados and flooding during a freak storm, and next week the polar vortex (yep same one) is returning leaving us with highs in the 70s!!! Can you believe highs in the 70s in VAB in the middle of July. I'm afraid for what may come next. There are mumblings that this winter may be worse than last. At this point I'm ready to forget the pool and just get the yard leveled. The weather hasn't been good for the pool this year or last...........

I agree with Rosemary... I'll even add a few things about this.

1) Tornados are rare but we have always had them in SE Virginia. They are rarely strong ones but they do happen here.

Explore Every Tornado Across the United States Since 1980 Through This Interactive Map | Science | Smithsonian

2) It is also not uncommon for us to get brushed by hurricanes in the summer. The beginning of July is a little earlier than normal but not unprecedented.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo/

2) We have had some strong thunderstorms come through lately but that is also par for the course in the summer. Rainfall fluctuates greatly in the summer from year to year depending on tropical activity and the overall jet stream pattern. We had over 14" of rain in July of 1994 and only 1.3" in 2006. It just happens. There is no strong trend in precipitation in the region over the long term, if anything it is slightly negative. Summer temperature does show an upward trend of about .4F per decade over the last 100 years consistent with large scale warming trends in the climate. If you want to play with the data and make cool graphs check out this site.

Climate at a Glance | National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)

3) We used to just call these big cold fronts, now everything is a "polar vortex" because the media used that term over the winter and it caught on. It isn't a complete nonsense term, it is an old weather term, but the way it is being used now is new. While this will be unusual for July, it is also not unprecedented. I, for one, am more than happy to have some July days in the 70's or low 80's with low humidity. Have no fear, hot muggy VB summer air will return for July, August, and some of September.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...u-s-next-week/

4) Nobody knows what the winter will be like this year. Anyone who tells you otherwise is full of ****. Scientists have great models for long term climate and short term weather but trying to say what the weather will be 6 months from now is terrible. There are too many variables. If it is an El Nino winter, which I believe they are forecasting, there are certain teleconnections that tend to hold for the mid-atlantic but even that is not definite.



It has been a bit of a crazy July but I wouldn't freak out about it. Summer weather is always crazy in the South, you are probably just more sensitive to it because of all the media focus on climate change etc... There is some research that indicates we may see more cold air outbreaks in the eastern half of the U.S. due to a warming arctic, melting ice, and the impacts that has on the jet stream but none of that is even remotely conclusive. If anything, the future SHOULD bring more hot days and fewer cool nights as the climate warms so I don't think a pool suddenly became a bad idea if you thought it was a good one before.

[LilyLady]

For those of you that have lived here a long time, has the Oceanfront ever been damaged like it was yesterday?

[bored chick]

It's going to be in the 70s next week? Hell yeah!! I am sick of the 90+ degree temps.

[Babe_Ruth]

Originally Posted by Lindsey1151

Yea I know! its like The Day After Tomorrow in real life..

For real; that's what I felt like yesterday.

I agree with other posters ^, summer storms can get brutal in the Southeast, but yesterday was wild. I was going by the Lynnhaven exits around 3:30 pm, and it was dark as Hell. I've been thru a lot of summer thunderstorms, and the rain & wind didn't seem unique.. but I swear, I've never seen it get that dark here in the daytime. The thunderstorm looked like it was laying on the ground (?) Anyone else get that feeling..

And I know that part of 264 is slightly elevated, but d-mn.. I thought I was about to get taken up to Oz.

[UHgrad]

Originally Posted by LilyLady

For those of you that have lived here a long time, has the Oceanfront ever been damaged like it was yesterday?

I've never seen the strip specifically damaged like that, except maybe in a hurricane, but the suffolk tornado back in 2008 was way worse.

At least 200 injured but no deaths in Suffolk tornado | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com

The thing at the beach yesterday was just confirmed by the NWS as an EF-0 tornado. Lowest on the scale but can still do damage.

http://wavy.com/2014/07/11/nws-confi...irginia-beach/

[Spazkat9696]

Just to clarify I'm not freaking out but the fact everything is happening back to back to back is odd. Sure these things all can and do happen (even though it's been a really long time since the last tornado hit VAB) but it's odd for them all to happen in a single 3 week period.