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Mike Floyd
Va. and N.C. will be spared from Hurricane Irma's worst, but it will bring some rain this far north
Hurricane Irma’s devastating waves and wind will collide with Florida on Sunday, but the storm will weaken by the time it starts to spread rain into Virginia next week and there’s no threat of catastrophic effects here.
The National Hurricane Center predicts that Irma will hit the Florida Keys on Sunday morning with sustained winds approaching 160 mph, and parts of South Florida will be inundated by a storm surge 8 to 12 feet above ground level.
Irma will spin north-northwest over the entire length of Florida on Sunday night and Monday morning, then through Georgia by Monday night.
The winds will steadily diminish after Irma crosses over land, but power outages from strong gusts and flash flooding from torrential rainfall could stretch as far inland as Atlanta and the Great Smoky Mountains.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the weakened remnants of Irma will track into Tennessee, but rain showers will extend into Virginia.
Irma will not swerve northeast and make a direct strike on the North Carolina or Virginia coast, which completely rules out any threat of damaging winds and storm surge on the nearby coastline.
Richmond forecast
Most of Virginia will receive some occasional rain from the remnants of Irma between Monday night and Wednesday, with higher amounts to the west and less to the east.
The rain chance is mostly centered on Tuesday, but showers could begin as early as Monday night and last as late as Wednesday.
It’s reasonable to expect that parts of central Virginia could see an inch of rain during that time, though the exact amount for any location will be higher or lower depending on where the showers track.
Therefore, there’s no need to take protective action or alter any plans here in central Virginia, except for the kind of plans that you would normally change when it rains.
Richmond will be too far east and too far north to experience any damaging winds related to Irma.
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