Expect a hotter, muggier Richmond summer
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The Richmond region has a 40% to 50% chance of summer being hotter than average, according to the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center.
Why it matters: Richmond summers typically feel like one is standing at the gates of hell to begin with.
State of play: Hotter summers are one of the most tangible ways we're experiencing climate change — and they're a health risk for vulnerable groups like children, pregnant women, the elderly and homeless people.
- And in Richmond, after a cooler-(and wetter)-than-usual May, summer weather seems to be finally settling in for the season, whether we like it or not.
Zoom in: Historically, a normal summer day here has a high of about 90 and a low of 70, per NWS — and that's without the humidity factored in.
- With it factored in, RVA's summer "feels like" temperature can reach 105 to 110, per NWS Wakefield's Richmond climate data.
- 🥵 And this year, it's likely to be even hotter.
Plus, the East Coast will see above average precipitation this summer, which will mean even muggier conditions, per the Washington Post.
- In RVA, it's never the heat that gets us, of course. It's the humidity.
Zoom out: It's not just this year. Summers are getting warmer nearly nationwide, per a new report from Climate Central, a climate research group.
- Average Richmond summer temperatures between 1970 and 2024 are now 2.7°F hotter on average.
Between the lines: Richmond, like many cities, suffers from "heat islands" — areas of especially high temperatures caused by roads, parking lots, buildings and other heat-trapping features.
- Heat islands tend to be more common in low-income neighborhoods and ones with predominantly Black and Latino residents, researchers have found.
The bottom line: Summer is awful in Richmond, and this year's is expected to be even worse.
- So get your complaints ready.