5:15 p.m. — Severe thunderstorm watch issued for northern Maryland, including Frederick and Carroll counties, as well as Baltimore, until 9 p.m.
While winds have been gusty across the Washington region, the showers so far have been rather tame. However, that could change between about 7 and 9 p.m. tonight, as the strong cold front passes through the region. That’s when some vigorous showers with strong winds may sweep across the area.
The highest risk of showers that mix down some damaging winds is expected to focus in northern Maryland, where a severe thunderstorm watch has been issued. However, some scattered strong gusts could occur farther south into the D.C. area.
A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for parts of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia until 9 PM EST pic.twitter.com/RJRqSAG3Y7
— NWS Severe Tstorm (@NWSSevereTstorm) March 7, 2022
The gusty line of showers approaching has a history of producing some very strong winds. Pittsburgh gusted to 62 mph and Allegheny Airport 58 mph as the showers swept through.
Original article
For the second day in a row, record highs were set across the area. Highs of at least 80 in Washington, 76 at Dulles, and 78 at BWI are all records for the date. That 80-degree reading in the city is 10th-earliest on record. Winds out of the south-southwest ahead of the next cold front gusted between 45 and 50 mph as well. Now we’ve got showers moving through with a cold front, some of which could produce damaging winds.
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Through Tonight: Several rounds of showers roll by this evening and into the night. Any stronger showers may produce isolated gusts upward of 55 mph or so and perhaps some thunder. We may continue to see occasional moderate to briefly heavy rain until about 8 to 10 p.m., and maybe a few lighter showers remaining after that. Temperatures tumble to lows near 40 in the suburbs to the mid-40s in the city. Winds are out of the northwest around 15 to 20 mph early, potentially gusting to 45 mph. They’ll slacken somewhat into dawn.
View the current weather at The Washington Post.
Tomorrow (Tuesday): Plentiful cloud cover could persist into early morning. We’ll see clearer skies with time during the day, though, leaving us partly to mostly sunny. Temperatures are back near normal for the date, or mainly in the low 50s. Winds are out of the northwest around 10 mph, with gusts to 20 or 25 mph.
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Severe weather risk: CWG’s storm expert, Jeff Halverson, has been monitoring conditions with us behind the scenes. “The atmosphere today is only marginally unstable for deep thunderstorm clouds, so a line of storms may not announce itself with much lightning and thunder,” he wrote in an email.
Given all the wind around without storms, it won’t take much extra to cause a few problems. That’s part of the reason it’s worth eyeing activity as it passes this evening.
“Low-level winds are strong, and there is the potential that any deeper cells may mix down that momentum as localized, severe wind gusts,” Halverson noted.
Precipitation totals of about a quarter-inch can be expected through morning, with some spots higher and lower.
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