RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Today is a VIPIR Alert day for Central Virginia as we are expecting the risk of strong to severe thunderstorms from 3 p.m. to midnight. Sunshine is currently out across Central Virginia, but a cold front in West Virginia will push in toward us as we head into the early after noon. That cold front will mix with the sunshine and warm weather and help to develop thunderstorms along the Shenandoah Valley between 2 and 3 p.m. Those storms will gradually move to the east into US Route 15, including Farmville, by 4 p.m. this afternoon. As those storms move eastward, it looks like they should cross Metro Richmond between 6 and 8 p.m. and then push out into the middle Peninsula and Northern Neck between 8 and 10 p.m. The main threats with these storms will be local heavy downpours in a short period of time -- these have a chance to cause some localized street flooding or ponding of water on our area roadways, especially for the latter part of the evening commute. Another concern is for damaging winds in excess of 60 mph, which could take down branches or small trees and possibly give us sporadic power outages. There is also the chance for some small hail or even a tornado, although those risks are minimal for Central Virginia. After midnight, all of the storms will be out into the Atlantic Ocean and our skies will slowly clear out by early Tuesday morning. Behind the system, it will be cooler but sunny for Tuesday with highs in the mid-60s. ...read more read less