Focus on Central Virginia - 7/29 through 8/3/25

Weather Headlines for Central Virginia:

• Hot, Hot, Hot — More of the same for the first part of the week, with hot and humid conditions prevailing. A heat advisory is in effect today, and there will likely be a heat advisory issued on Wednesday as high temps will be in the mid to upper 90s, sending heat index values well over 100°. Wednesday will be the worst day of the week with highs pushing 100° and heat index values as high as 108°.

• C-C-Changes — BIG pattern change happens later this week as a strong cold front moves through the mid-Atlantic region. MUCH cooler temperatures and higher rain chances on Thursday and Friday, followed by MUCH lower humidity for the weekend. This weekend looks absolutely gorgeous.

In Depth:

• You’re probably well aware of this already but it’s still hot. And sadly, it’s going to continue to be hot for another couple of days as this stubborn heat dome remains in place. Today we’re seeing temperatures in the low 90s with heat index values well over 100°, and Tuesday will be more of the same with even higher high temperatures. The good news is the humidity won’t be quite as high tomorrow, so heat index values will probably not reach heat advisory criteria. Also, unlike this weekend which saw severe thunderstorms across most of central Virginia, rain chances should remain low.

• The good news is that Wednesday should be the last day of extreme heat we see for a while. The bad news is…well, we still have to deal with the extreme heat. Even worse, the humidity will be higher again, so we’re probably looking at heat advisory criteria again: high temperatures in the upper 90s and heat index values of 105 to 108°. There will also be an increased chance of showers and thunderstorms on Wednesday evening, and of course, any thunderstorms that form will likely produce very heavy rainfall.

• The pattern finally breaks — and when I say I break, I mean for longer than like two days — on Thursday. It will still be fairly warm with highs around 90°, but clouds will roll in early Thursday afternoon and bring high rain chances. Nothing torrential, but much of the region could see about 0.5 to 1 inch of rainfall. Most importantly, the cloud cover will bring temperatures down, and temperatures will likely fall into the 80s during the afternoon. Friday will be mostly the same (cloudy and rainy), except high temperatures will struggle to make it too much higher than 80°.

• This weekend looks to be absolutely spectacular in terms of weather as the rain moves out late Friday night. Saturday and Sunday look to be very pleasant with sunny skies and unseasonably cool temperatures: much of the Richmond area north of I-64 might not even reach 80 degrees on Saturday, and lows could be in the upper 50s across much of the area. Sunday looks much the same: high temperatures around 80 degrees, even lower humidity (dew points in the lower 60s), and lows in the lower 60s. If you’re planning to do anything this weekend, the weather should be downright perfect. Here’s a summary of this week’s weather for Richmond:

One last thing…

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