National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Cooler Temperatures for the Midwest and Eastern U.S.; Rain and Light Snow in Parts of the Upper Midwest and Northeast

Cooler temperatures are forecast for the Midwest and portions of the Eastern U.S. early this week as a cold front progresses through. Some light snow accumulations may be possible in parts of the Upper Midwest, Central Appalachians and Northeast. Gusty winds will bring elevated fire weather conditions in southern Kansas, southwest Missouri and Oklahoma Tuesday. Read More >

Overview

From Wednesday through Friday (6/9-11), an upper shortwave slowly approached the area from the west before crossing the area late Friday into early Saturday morning. At the surface, a cold front remained just to the north of the area on Wednesday. That front crossed the Lower MD Eastern Shore on Thursday before stalling in the vicinity of the Virginia Northern Neck late Thursday through midday Friday. The front finally crossed the remainder of the area from Friday afternoon through the first part of Friday night. The pre-frontal environment was characterized by fairly deep south to southwesterly flow, which was responsible for transporting anomalous amounts of moisture toward the area. Precipitable water values were around 2.0-2.1" from Wednesday through Friday before slowly falling after the cold frontal passage.

On Wednesday and Thursday, scattered to numerous afternoon/evening showers and thunderstorms resulted in multiple instances of flooding, including (in total) over 20 water rescues in the City of Richmond. However, the worst of the flooding occurred from Friday morning into the afternoon across the Virginia Northern Neck. Showers and thunderstorms with torrential rainfall kept developing and slowly training along that stalled front (thanks in part to the very weak steering flow). The heaviest showers/storms slowly moved south across the area during the afternoon and evening, roughly following the cold front.  This prompted additional Flash Flood Warnings for parts of central VA. In total, some areas in the VA Northern Neck received ~10 inches of rain! Also, there was a dam failure at Chandlers Mill Pond just west-southwest of Montross, VA. This resulted in a water rescue on Peach Grove Lane (near Chandlers Mill Pond). In addition, Flash Flood Warnings were issued for the City of Richmond for three consecutive days! See the Rainfall section for more details regarding specific rain totals. The Environment section contains images related to the meteorological setup of the event.

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