What kind of storm hit dc

Bell advised reconsidering any Friday night plans that involve being out on the roads because of the flood risk. Strong wind gusts of over 40 mph will also be possible along the ridgelines, where tree damage could also cause power-loss problems. Thursday, the Old Town waterfront area of Alexandria had flooded, and police were advising residents to avoid the area and not try to drive in flood waters. There is some flooding on King St.

Access to King St. Storms will move out Saturday, although clouds, wind and some passing showers will remain. On Sunday, though, the sunshine returns for Halloween , with afternoon highs in the mids. Next week will be quieter, sunny and seasonably cool, with temperatures feeling more like November.

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Home » Weather News » Another powerful storm system…. Reduced visibility and flooding are making travel on the roads difficult, and winds gusting up to 40 mph could blow around unsecured objects or knock down trees.

A tree fell onto the George Washington Parkway north of Mount Vernon during the morning commute, blocking all lanes, an official said.

No injuries were reported. Up to 2 inches of rain could fall before 8 p. Friday, but more rain is possible for some areas that get hit by the heaviest bands.

Waves of rain, heavy at times, continued into the evening. Be ready for occasional showers into Saturday. The National Weather Service is cautioning about flooding and wind. Here's a full list of weather alerts. Washington, DC officially recorded 17 inches at National Airport, but 2 feet of snow fell in surrounding suburbs. Winds gusted over 25 mph all day on February 11 causing drifts up to five feet. The heavy snow and winds paralyzed the region.

Almost a foot Prince Georges County, MD was hard hit with up to 13 inches of snow falling in a short amount of time. It caught motorists off guard and stranded cars on the Capitol Beltway.

There were so many cars that snow plows could not get through to open the clogged arteries. Cars littered the roadway for more than 24 hours. The event precipitated the development of the Washington Metropolitan Area Snow Plan to facilitate preparedness and response to future storms. This storm struck before the days of lightning detection networks and Doppler weather radar.

When thunderstorms began dumping heavy snow over the Fredericksburg VA, forecasters had no idea. The storm moved northeast across the southern Metropolitan area Prince Georges County. It was not until the fast accumulating snow hit Camp Springs, where at the time the Weather Forecast Office was located, did forecasters realize what was happening. March , : The Superstorm of March '93 had a large area of impact that went all the way from Florida and Alabama north through New England.

The storm was blamed for some deaths and cost two billion dollars to repair damages and remove snow. In Florida, the storm produced an ocean surge of 9 to 12 feet that killed 11 people on the panhandle more deaths than the storm surge from Hurricanes Hugo and Andrew and it spawned 11 tornadoes. In a large swath from Alabama to New England, it dropped over a foot of snow. In the Mid Atlantic region, weather stations recorded their lowest pressure ever as the storm's center passed.

The March storm was not "the storm of the century" for Washington. Washington had seen greater snowfall and more damage by past storms.

The Washington area saw 8 inches to the southeast of the city, 13 inches in the District and within the beltway, and 18 inches north and west of the city in Loudoun, Frederick and portions of Montgomery Counties.

Unlike most winter storms that along up the coast, this storm took a more inland track across Richmond and the Chesapeake Bay. Extreme southwest Virginia saw 30 to 42 inches of snow where some roofs collapsed under the weight of the snow.

Winds produced blizzard conditions over portions of northern Virginia and central and western Maryland with snow drifts up to 12 feet! Interstates shut down. Shelters opened for nearly stranded travelers and those that left without heat and electricity. The National Guard was called to help with emergency transport and critical snow removal.

Eleven people died in Virginia, one in the District, and one in Maryland during and immediately following the storm. The deaths were mainly from heart attacks brought on by overexertion while shoveling snow or from exposure and hypothermia.

January-February, : These two months saw an unusual assault of ice storms on the Washington area. It began in mid January with an arctic blast that sent temperatures below zero over northern Virginia and western and central Maryland for a couple of mornings. The sudden cold wave shot up the use of electricity and natural gas. The effect was over such a large portion of the Eastern US that the power companies went into rolling black outs so as not to lose the grid entirely and requested people to conserve energy.

Between mid January and mid February, about a dozen storms hit dropping snow, sleet, and freezing rain. The most devastating storm struck February leaving a coat of ice, one to three inches thick, from freezing rain and sleet!

The hardest hit was an area from near Fredericksburg across southern Maryland and Annapolis. Some counties lost 10 percent of their trees from the heavy ice. Roads were blocked and impassable. Electric and phone lines were down with as much as 90 percent of the area's people without power.

Even with help from out-of-state utility companies, many people were without power for a week. A presidential disaster declaration was given.

Damages were estimated at near million dollars for the region. There were numerous injuries from automobile accidents and people falling on ice. It was likely the iciest winter the Washington area has ever seen. Just two days earlier, an impasse between a republican congress and a democratic president over the Federal Budget had finally come to an end. Many federal employees had been on furlough with government offices shut down for almost a month.

Employees would finally return to work on Monday, January 8. However, mother nature did not cooperate. By Monday morning, Washington, DC was buried under 17 to 21 inches of snow.

Thirty to 36 inches of snow fell over Frederick and western Loudoun Counties. Baltimore recorded over 22 inches and even Ocean City received 10 inches of snow. The entire region was paralyzed and the Federal Government remained shut down. As road crews worked hard to clear the snow, an "Alberta Clipper" shot through on Tuesday, January 9 dumping an additional 3 to 5 inches from Washington northeast through Baltimore. Plows that would have been working on secondary roads and residential areas were sent back to the primary roads.

The government remained shut for 4 days that week and many schools and businesses announced their closure for the entire week. A third storm struck on Friday, January 12 dumping another 4 to 6 inches over the metro area.

A maximum of 6 to 12 inches of snow fell over Frederick Counties. By the week's end, most of the Washington area was buried under 2 to 3 feet of snow! See map shown above. By Sunday morning that area of high pressure had strengthened and moved over southwest Quebec. This allowed a steady stream of cold air to flow down the east side of the Appalachian Mountains into the mid Atlantic region - all three major airports reported temperatures in the teens throughout the day.

The provided a steady stream of moisture to flow into the mid Atlantic states. By 4 am on the 16th heavy snow was being reported at all three major airports, reducing visibility to one quarter mile or less. The snowfall finally abated during the morning of Monday the 17th — Presidents Day.

Totals for the storm included Many schools were closed for the entire week. The weather map the morning of Tuesday the 13th showed low pressure strengthening over Arkansas, with a stationary front extending eastward across North Carolina. Temperatures in the NWS Sterling forecast area that morning were in the lower 30s. However, with high pressure over upstate New York, surface temperatures dropped below freezing by early afternoon on northerly winds. Of greater importance was what was happening to the temperature of the column of air up to feet above the surface.

Weather balloon soundings taken every six hours at NWS Sterling showed that warm, above freezing air was flowing into the area on southwesterly winds between feet and feet. This was causing the snow falling from the clouds to melt, but as these drops descended further to refreeze prior to reaching the surface, forming sleet.

East of Washington DC the column of subfreezing air was not as thick, and the drops remained liquid until they reached the surface, where they refroze on contact to form freezing rain. Almost 69, homes lost power in Anne Arundel County. The days after the storm were of little help to road and power crews, as well as those trying to clear driveways, as temperatures remained subfreezing until the afternoon of the 17th.

December , : On the morning of Friday, December 18th low pressure was located in the Gulf of Mexico near the Florida Panhandle. Cold high pressure was located over southern Quebec. By Friday evening the low moved off the North Carolina coast and underwent explosive intensification. Snow began at Dulles Airport around pm Friday evening, and then continued through 11 pm on Saturday. By Sunday morning the low had moved east of Cape Cod. Everywhere else in the Sterling forecast area received at least 14 inches, with the highest totals recorded from the central Shenandoah Valley to the central Allegheny Highlands.

Totals include…in Washington DC In Maryland, In Virginia, Dulles Airport had The greatest snow total for this storm was in Cherry Grove, WV — For all three major airports this was the largest single December snowfall in history.

Snow began at Dulles during the morning of the 5th. The surface map on the morning of the 6th showed deep low pressure just east of Virginia Beach. Northeasterly winds of mph persisted throughout much of the day Saturday. Visibility remained extremely poor through 4 pm Saturday afternoon. These conditions reflected those at the other major airports, and throughout the mid Atlantic region.

The two day totals at the three major airports — BWI The total at Dulles was not only the greatest two day snowfall since records began in March ; it crushed the previous two day total of The total at DCA was the 4th greatest two day snowfall in Washington DC since records began in ; for Baltimore it was their second greatest. In central Maryland…Frostburg In northern Virginia…Howellsville In eastern West Virginia…Vanville On the morning of Monday the 8th cold high pressure settled into the mid Atlantic region, while low pressure was forming across south Texas, with a second low pressure area centered over Iowa.

Skies over the mid Atlantic on the overnight hours of the 9th were clear, which allowed temperatures to plummet into the lower teens at most locations by 7 am Tuesday. On Tuesday morning those two low pressure areas were set to merge over the Ohio Valley. Light snow began to fall in the mid afternoon hours, which continued intermittently through the evening and overnight.

By midnight the low pressure areas had combined and moved to the North Carolina coast. This tracked rapidly up the coastline, and by 5 am the low intensified deeply off the Delmarva. Around this time conditions degraded rapidly — visibility reduced as wind speed increased. The snow was fine and powdery, and blew around easily as wind gusts increased to mph. For a period around 7 am VDOT ordered its snowplows to halt operations as visibility was reduced to less than feet at times. Snow, strong gusty winds and poor visibility continued into the late afternoon.

Totals for this storm were less than the first storm, with a tighter precipitation gradient from northeast to southwest, but with snow banks five feet or higher along roads this left snowplows with little room to remove the second round of snow.

In central Maryland…Hancock In northern Virginia…Falls Church In eastern West Virginia…Sheperdstown This was the first time since snowfall records were kept in that Washington DC recorded two separate double digit snowfalls in the same month. The one week snowfall record for Washington DC was also bested with a total of The previous record was BWI received An additional one-half inch was received later in the month.

Dulles received Combined with another. The prior record was Janurary 26, : A potent winter storm impacted the Washington and Baltimore metropolitan areas on Wednesday, January 26th.

The storm came in two waves: The first wave triggered a period of sleet and snow across northern Maryland in the early morning. A second, stronger wave brought a burst of heavy snow to much of the region Wednesday afternoon and evening. A potent upper low moved through the area during the late afternoon and evening.

Conditions deteriorated rapidly as heavy precipitation overspread the region at the start of the afternoon rush hour. Colder air moved into the area during this time, allowing precipitation to change quickly to sleet and then heavy snow. There were many reports of thunder and lightning occurring with the sleet and snow.

Heavy snow continued through the evening hours with snowfall rates around 2 to 3 inches per hour at the height of the event. Snowfall totals were highest across the northern and western suburbs of Washington D.

While snowfall amounts fell far short of the extraordinary totals from the December and February storms, the timing and intensity of the heavy snow made this storm memorable. The snowfall, coinciding with the afternoon commute, led to multiple hours of gridlocked traffic due to the treacherous driving conditions. There were countless reports of commuters needing 5 to 10 hours to get home, while others abandoned their vehicles. Snowplows were unable to move in the gridlock.

The heavy, wet snow brought down many trees and powerlines.