Around 8 p.m. Sunday, this wicked storm rolled through Southeast Virginia without warning. Forecasters were watching as it approached Norfolk, but after a certain point, the squall line weakened below the “severe” threshold.
But it blew up again rapidly when it reached Virginia Beach and sent a wall of severe wind gusts — likely exceeding 70 mph based on radar estimates and video footage of the storm.
The National Weather Service issued a special weather statement for winds in excess of 40 mph, but no severe thunderstorm warning was issued for this squall line beyond Suffolk, Va. Looking back at the radar, it’s not surprising there was no warning out at the time. The storm looked like it was petering out after it passed Suffolk, but it exploded again over Virginia Beach.
The gust front, which is like a wall of wind that flows across the ground, away from a thunderstorm and tends to outrun it, is plainly seen on radar. When the outflow is out ahead of the storm, it prevents the storm from becoming too strong. But around 8:30 p.m., as the storm passed through Virginia Beach, it caught up with its own outflow and strengthened rapidly.
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