WRIC NOW: August weather, Labor Day and tropics update

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Stormtracker8 Meteorologists Matt DiNardo and Jacqueline Waters were joined by a live studio audience for today’s episode of Weather University as they talked about August weather, Labor Day and a tropics update.

Several ninth and twelfth graders from the Dominion Technical Center stopped by the studio on their tour of WRIC to ask DiNardo and Waters questions live.

“I know the weather changes, but how far out can you guys predict it,” a student asked.

“Some of our weather models that we look at will actually go out 20 days to 26 days — they go out quite a bit — but for real accuracy you’re kind of staying in that three to five-day range,” DiNardo said. “So if you asked me today, ‘What’s it going to be like Friday?’ I’m gonna be fairly accurate, Jacqueline will be fairly accurate, giving you a really good forecast and being within a couple of degrees.”

Though August started off with heat and humidity — after Debby arrived, Richmond residents saw some different weather patterns as the month progressed.

“We started off the month blazing hot [and] humid, and then, all of the sudden, Debby came in and things changed,” DiNardo said.

Some residents might have noticed the cooler weather during the later weeks of the month, or what DiNardo refers to as “nature’s air conditioning.”

“The humidity was not around — it felt like fall — it was so nice,” Waters said.

As September approaches, DiNardo and Waters did some research on the hottest Labor Days that Richmond has seen, and there was a slightly surprising outcome.

“I was shocked by the hottest — 102 degrees back in 1954,” DiNardo said. “I’m happy to say that this Labor Day weekend is not looking super hot, upper 80s, maybe near 90.”

The discussion then moved on to the tropics, and Waters took over to report some good news about a lack of developments in the Atlantic.

“We’re getting into the peak of hurricane season in the Atlantic, and we’re super quiet right now. There is absolutely nothing we’re watching, which is certainly good news, we don’t want to see things pop up and develop, but right now the Atlantic is very quiet and hopefully things stay that way,” Waters said.

For more information about the last of Hurricane Ernesto and to learn how hail forms, make sure to check out last week’s episode. Watch more livestream content on the WRIC NOW page .

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