FIRST ALERT: Severe thunderstorm watch until 7 p.m.

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A First Alert Weather Day is in place on Thursday for a severe storm chance in the afternoon.

All of central VA has been placed under a Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 7pm this evening per NWS.

All of central VA has also been placed under a *slight* risk of strong to severe storms from the Storm Prediction Center (counties highlighted in yellow).

That's a 2 out of 5 on the severe weather threat scale. These showers and storms will be SCATTERED in nature, so not everyone is going to get a thunderstorm or even rain for that matter. The individual storm cells that are able to develop could get strong enough to produce damaging wind gusts and  hail.

The peak storm chance for Richmond is between 4pm and 6pm.

Here is the model forecast for 5pm.

Keep your NBC12 weather app handy through the afternoon and evening. We'll continue to monitor this potential closely and keep you updated on the timing!

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