On WED evening there was no sign of impending severe weather for SE VA/NE NC. However, that was to change drastically come Thursday evening.
Wednesday saw a warm, partly cloudy, muggy day here with a new maximum low temperature station record set with a 78.3° reading. Temps peaked in the upper 80s while humidity levels ranged from 68 to 83% creating high heat indices. Some high clouds from Bonnie moved across SE VA on their way inland.
Thursday saw Hurricane Bonnie continuing high winds across E NC although the storm diminished to a minimal hurricane re: wind speeds. Bonnie was eventually downgraded to a tropical storm as it headed slowly towards the NE along the NC coast and just inland.
By mid-afternoon winds began to pick-up over SE VA and showers moved into the region from bands heading due west from the Atlantic on the northern edge of Bonnie. Winds picked-up as did the rainshowers associated with Bonnie with downpours from squall lines moving over most of Hampton Roads particularly over the N sections of Norfolk and Virginia Beach. A 90 MPH wind gust was recorded at Cape Henry Light Station with repetitive 60 MPH wind gusts over much of SE VA. The wind peaked at NNE 63 MPH here in the SE section of Portsmouth at 10:22 PM. Rainfall for the day totaled 1.98" and the storm total through FRI AM was 2.44". The barometer dropped to 29.526" as Bonnie moved to about Nags Head as it pulled slowly northeast away from the coast when it regenerated into a minimal hurricane continuing slowly seaward.
Bonnie actually became near stationary as it pulled SE of SE VA. This contributed to persistent winds gusts from 40 MPH to 60+ MPH during the late afternoon and evening until near midnight. Tremendous wind damage, flooding, and great numbers of power outages were recorded across the area. Power surges occured at this site on 6 occasions with the power coming back on within seconds. However, as many as a million Virginians- most in Hampton Roads - were without power for much of THU night into FRI morning.
Early FRI winds and rain gradually tapered.
The balance of Friday was partly cloudy, hazy, very warm, and extremely humid what with the 2.44" of rain which fell over the previous 36 hours. As surface moisture evaporated back into the atmosphere, dew point levels were sky high.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TH Temp Wind Hi Low Hum Dew Wind Date Time Index Out Chill Temp Temp Out Pt. Speed Hi Dir Rain Bar -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8/26/9812:00a 83.4 79.9 79.9 80.1 79.7 72 70.1 0.0 6.0 S 0.00 29.929 8/26/98 1:00a 83.8 79.5 79.5 79.8 79.1 74 70.5 0.0 5.0 NE 0.00 29.907 8/26/98 2:00a 82.4 79.0 79.0 79.1 78.9 77 71.2 0.0 6.0 NE 0.00 29.872 8/26/98 3:00a 82.8 78.7 78.7 78.9 78.6 79 71.6 0.0 6.0 NNE 0.00 29.851 8/26/98 4:00a 83.2 78.5 78.5 78.6 78.4 81 72.2 4.0 7.0 NNE 0.00 29.847 8/26/98 5:00a 82.1 78.4 78.4 78.4 78.3 81 72.1 0.0 7.0 NNE 0.00 29.828 8/26/98 6:00a 83.2 78.7 78.7 78.9 78.4 81 72.4 4.0 10.0 NNE 0.00 29.834 8/26/98 7:00a 83.4 78.7 78.7 78.9 78.5 82 72.7 0.0 5.0 NNE 0.00 29.847 8/26/98 8:00a 85.4 79.6 -- 80.4 78.9 82 73.6 0.0 6.0 N 0.00 29.869 8/26/98 9:00a 89.0 81.5 81.5 82.3 80.4 80 74.7 4.0 7.0 NE 0.00 29.892 8/26/9810:00a 90.2 83.1 83.1 84.4 82.2 76 74.8 4.0 7.0 NNE 0.00 29.902 8/26/9811:00a 95.4 84.5 84.5 85.0 84.2 76 76.1 4.0 11.0 NE 0.00 29.915 8/26/9812:00p 96.6 85.8 85.8 86.6 85.0 74 76.6 4.0 10.0 NE 0.00 29.901 8/26/98 1:00p 98.2 87.7 87.7 88.7 86.4 68 75.8 4.0 7.0 SSE 0.00 29.884 8/26/98 2:00p 99.0 87.5 87.5 88.1 87.1 70 76.5 4.0 10.0 ESE 0.00 29.892 8/26/98 3:00p 99.0 87.6 87.6 87.8 87.3 70 76.6 5.0 12.0 SSE 0.00 29.852 8/26/98 4:00p 97.5 86.7 86.7 87.3 85.6 71 76.2 5.0 10.0 SE 0.00 29.824 8/26/98 5:00p 95.0 84.7 84.7 85.6 84.2 75 75.9 4.0 14.0 E 0.00 29.840 8/26/98 6:00p 93.1 83.5 83.5 84.2 82.7 77 75.5 4.0 10.0 ENE 0.00 29.835 8/26/98 7:00p 90.4 82.6 82.6 82.8 82.4 77 74.7 6.0 20.0 NE 0.00 29.809 8/26/98 8:00p 88.8 82.0 -- 82.5 81.7 79 74.8 10.0 21.0 NE 0.00 29.796 8/26/98 9:00p 88.8 81.5 81.5 81.7 81.4 79 74.4 6.0 15.0 NE 0.00 29.808 8/26/9810:00p 88.4 81.7 81.7 81.9 81.5 77 73.8 5.0 16.0 NE 0.00 29.808 8/26/9811:00p 88.6 81.5 81.5 81.7 81.2 78 74.0 5.0 13.0 NE 0.00 29.795 8/27/9812:00a 86.6 81.3 81.3 81.5 81.0 78 73.8 5.0 15.0 NE 0.00 29.785 8/27/98 1:00a 88.4 81.5 81.5 81.6 81.2 77 73.6 5.0 15.0 NE 0.00 29.779 8/27/98 2:00a 86.8 81.0 81.0 81.2 80.7 79 73.9 5.0 12.0 SE 0.00 29.747 8/27/98 3:00a 86.6 81.1 81.1 81.2 80.9 78 73.6 5.0 12.0 ENE 0.00 29.745 8/27/98 4:00a 86.6 80.9 80.9 81.1 80.7 78 73.4 5.0 14.0 ENE 0.00 29.743 8/27/98 5:00a 86.6 80.9 -- 81.1 80.7 78 73.4 5.0 15.0 ENE 0.00 29.734 8/27/98 6:00a 85.0 80.3 80.3 80.8 79.9 80 73.6 12.0 20.0 NE 0.01 29.745 8/27/98 7:00a 86.8 80.8 80.8 81.0 80.4 79 73.7 13.0 21.0 NE 0.00 29.756 8/27/98 8:00a 86.6 80.9 80.9 81.0 80.8 78 73.4 13.0 24.0 NE 0.00 29.764 8/27/98 9:00a 86.4 81.2 81.2 81.3 80.9 77 73.3 12.0 21.0 SSE 0.00 29.755 8/27/9810:00a 88.2 81.5 81.5 81.7 81.2 76 73.2 13.0 24.0 SSE 0.00 29.757 8/27/9811:00a 87.4 81.1 81.1 81.6 79.9 82 75.1 13.0 32.0 SSE 0.03 29.756 8/27/9812:00p 85.0 80.3 80.3 80.8 79.8 80 73.6 13.0 26.0 ENE 0.00 29.738 8/27/98 1:00p 88.0 80.7 80.7 81.0 79.8 85 75.8 13.0 27.0 NE 0.02 29.712 8/27/98 2:00p 84.8 78.9 78.9 79.8 77.4 89 75.4 14.0 24.0 NE 0.20 29.715 8/27/98 3:00p 81.0 76.7 75.4 77.4 76.1 90 73.5 16.0 40.0 NE 0.09 29.675 8/27/98 4:00p 80.0 75.9 75.1 76.4 75.7 92 73.4 15.0 40.0 NE 0.13 29.617 8/27/98 5:00p 81.3 76.5 74.6 76.7 76.2 93 74.3 17.0 41.0 NE 0.07 29.604 8/27/98 6:00p 80.0 76.1 73.6 76.3 75.6 94 74.3 18.0 50.0 NE 0.32 29.572 8/27/98 7:00p 80.0 75.7 -- 76.1 75.5 96 74.5 20.0 54.0 NE 0.11 29.541 8/27/98 8:00p 80.0 75.8 73.2 76.1 75.5 95 74.3 18.0 47.0 NE 0.11 29.526 8/27/98 9:00p 80.0 75.5 72.3 75.7 75.1 95 74.0 19.0 55.0 NE 0.20 29.547 8/27/9810:00p 78.5 74.8 70.5 75.3 74.2 95 73.3 21.0 60.0 NE 0.25 29.567 8/27/9811:00p 78.6 75.1 71.8 75.4 74.3 96 73.9 19.0 63.0 ENE 0.25 29.563 8/28/9812:00a 77.0 73.7 -- 75.4 72.3 95 72.2 17.0 36.0 N 0.19 29.631 8/28/98 1:00a 76.8 74.2 70.7 74.7 73.2 94 72.4 9.0 28.0 N 0.12 29.635 8/28/98 2:00a 74.8 72.2 67.6 73.3 71.7 94 70.4 10.0 26.0 N 0.10 29.654 8/28/98 3:00a 74.0 71.8 66.7 72.0 71.5 90 68.7 11.0 35.0 N 0.08 29.643 8/28/98 4:00a 74.6 72.3 67.4 72.7 71.8 93 70.2 11.0 34.0 NNE 0.06 29.659 8/28/98 5:00a 74.6 71.9 67.9 72.4 71.6 93 69.8 9.0 28.0 N 0.00 29.671 8/28/98 6:00a 75.6 72.5 68.7 73.0 71.7 93 70.4 9.0 24.0 N 0.00 29.706 8/28/98 7:00a 74.4 72.4 69.2 72.8 72.1 92 69.9 8.0 22.0 N 0.00 29.721 8/28/98 8:00a 76.2 73.7 72.1 74.3 72.7 91 70.9 9.0 23.0 N 0.00 29.728 8/28/98 9:00a 78.4 74.7 73.2 75.2 74.2 94 72.9 9.0 25.0 N 0.10 29.760 8/28/9810:00a 81.0 76.5 74.6 77.3 75.2 88 72.7 12.0 26.0 N 0.00 29.772 8/28/9811:00a 82.5 77.5 76.2 77.7 77.1 85 72.6 11.0 25.0 N 0.00 29.813 8/28/9812:00p 81.0 77.1 75.8 78.0 76.7 85 72.2 11.0 25.0 N 0.00 29.826 8/28/98 1:00p 84.8 79.8 77.9 80.5 78.0 79 72.7 13.0 27.0 N 0.00 29.835 8/28/98 2:00p 86.0 81.2 80.6 82.4 80.4 75 72.5 10.0 23.0 N 0.00 29.840 8/28/98 3:00p 91.0 83.5 82.8 84.1 82.4 70 72.7 11.0 21.0 N 0.00 29.840 8/28/98 4:00p 90.6 84.4 84.4 85.6 83.9 69 73.1 6.0 16.0 N 0.00 29.840 8/28/98 5:00p 96.2 87.0 86.0 87.4 86.7 68 73.9 6.0 16.0 N 0.00 29.851 8/28/98 6:00p 92.2 85.4 85.4 85.9 84.8 68 73.6 6.0 16.0 N 0.00 29.865 8/28/98 7:00p 93.0 84.6 84.6 84.8 84.4 70 73.7 4.0 10.0 NNE 0.00 29.861 8/28/98 8:00p 90.2 83.4 83.4 84.5 82.1 76 75.0 0.0 4.0 NNE 0.00 29.874 8/28/98 9:00p 87.0 81.1 81.1 82.2 80.2 80 74.3 0.0 4.0 N 0.00 29.876 8/28/9810:00p 85.6 79.7 79.7 80.3 79.2 83 74.1 0.0 6.0 NNE 0.00 29.885 8/28/9811:00p 83.8 79.1 79.1 79.4 78.7 84 73.9 0.0 5.0 NE 0.00 29.888