WASHINGTON – A stormy Tuesday afternoon and evening is on tap for millions who live around the mid-Atlantic, including the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore areas, as severe thunderstorms may arrive just in time to dampen the evening commute.
While it’s a quiet morning across the region, a weak trough of low pressure will swing through Tuesday afternoon, tapping into warm, moist air in place and setting the stage for the development of scattered strong to severe thunderstorms in the evening.
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center has included around 10 million in the Washington and Baltimore areas in a Level 2 out of 5 on its severe weather risk scale.
THE 5-POINT SEVERE THUNDERSTORM RISK CATEGORY SCALE EXPLAINED
Damaging wind gusts of at least 60 mph and quarter-sized hail are possible, along with heavy rains and frequent lightning, along with the potential for flash flooding amid the wettest thunderstorms. Luckily, the tornado threat is minimal.
A level 1 threat of severe weather expands farther north up the rest of the I-95 corridor, including Philadelphia, New York and Boston, where scattered strong thunderstorms are possible that may include a few isolated storms that reach severe criteria.
Once the storms pass offshore Tuesday night, attention turns to a budding heat wave in the Northeast for the rest of the week, which may add another threat if any power outages from Tuesday’s storms linger and air conditioning is lost.
High temperatures on Wednesday will push into the low 90s, then climb into the mid-upper 90s on Thursday that, combined with high humidity, will push the “feels-like” temperatures well past 100 across the region.
It will remain hot and humid through Saturday, with high temperatures pushing well into the 90s, even nudging close to 100, with heat index readings pushing 110 degrees.
Cooling relief is forecast for Sunday and Monday as high temperatures drop back into the 80s.