RICHMOND, Va. — Richmond experienced one of the biggest temperature drops on record this week, with temperatures plunging 57 degrees in roughly 24 hours.
The region hit a record high of 85 degrees on Tuesday. On Wednesday, another record high occurred as temperatures reached near 90 degrees. A cold front moved through Thursday morning, bringing snow and a dramatic cool-down. By around 3 p.m. Thursday, temperatures had dropped to freezing, with wind chills down to 23 degrees. In terms of the feels-like temperature, the region experienced a drop of more than 65 degrees.
Meteorologist Mike Stone said the swing is the largest 24-hour temperature drop since the late 1940s — and possibly the biggest on record.
"If not the biggest drop on record, one of the biggest ones," Stone said.
Rare level 4 severe weather risk with tornadoes, damaging winds
Just days after the region experienced one of the biggest temperature swings on record, a significant and rare severe weather threat is bearing down on Central Virginia on Monday.
The Storm Prediction Center issued a moderate risk — level 4 out of 5 — for severe weather across the entire CBS 6 viewing area Monday. Meteorologist Mike Goldberg said that designation is uncommon for this part of the state.
"It's rare to see this across central Virginia. We've seen it a couple of times over the last decade or so, but not many," Goldberg said.
The primary threats on Monday are damaging wind gusts exceeding 70 mph and tornadoes. Goldberg warned that any tornadoes that develop could be stronger and longer-lived than what the region typically sees.
"I have to say, I'm really impressed by the model data tonight, indicating that there is a substantial threat for tornadoes, and particularly some dangerous, or rather stronger tornadoes that we don't typically see around these parts," Goldberg said. "They could be long-lived as well, meaning they could be on the ground a little bit longer than we are used to seeing," Goldberg said.
"We're not all going to see tornadoes, but any that develop could be particularly strong for this part of the state," Goldberg said.
