THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 5, 1995 TAG: 9508050263
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
There's good and bad news for Hampton Roads from the folks who play that uncertain game of long-range weather forecasting.
It may finally rain. Good news for residents whose parched lawns and gardens have withered under twin whammies of high heat and low rainfall.
But any break from the record heat wave is likely to be short-lived.
To confuse matters, there's still no certainty about what effect, if any, the remnants of Hurricane Erin will have on weather in Virginia and North Carolina.
This weekend is expected to remain very hot and humid with potentially dangerous heat index readings of 110 or higher. Because of that, a heat advisory was issued Friday by the National Weather Service in Washington for most of Virginia, including Hampton Roads.
Today's high should be in the upper 90s, and Sunday's in the mid-90s.
As the new week begins, however, meteorologists expect temperatures to moderate to more seasonal levels and stay below the 90-degree mark. If that happens, the new record for the longest heat wave in Norfolk since record-keeping began in 1877 would stand at 26 days - 11 days longer than the previous mark.
Enjoy the ``chill'' while it lasts. The six- to 10-day outlook for the period beginning Thursday calls for temperatures to be much above normal from the Delmarva Peninsula south through Hampton Roads and into the eastern two-thirds of North Carolina.
The same forecast, issued Friday by the National Weather Service's Climate Analysis Center, calls for normal precipitation levels for the same general area. August is usually the wettest month of the year in Hampton Roads, with 5 1/3 inches of rain.
So far this year, 19.65 inches of rain has fallen at the National Weather Service office at Norfolk International Airport. Normally, 27.36 inches has fallen by this time of year.
Friday's high temperature was 98 in Norfolk, just a degree shy of the record for the date, set in 1980.
And it appears the heat is taking its toll even on the weather forecasters.
In what was perhaps an honest mistake, or a case of wishful thinking, when the Weather Service in Washington issued this weekend's heat advisory, it came out under the heading ``winter storm.'' by CNB