Thunderstorms threaten DC area with heavy rain, potential floods

The pattern of heat and humidity followed by storms is continuing Wednesday with high temperatures by day and powerful storms by night in the D C region By Wednesday evening conditions began to grow unstable thunderstorms rolled in around p m bringing the likely for heavy rain Any thundershowers that develop could be intense with heavier downpours and selected gusty winds News First Alert Senior Meteorologist Brian van de Graaff reported So we remain weather aware for the back half of the day but not everyone gets in on the action The National Weather Arrangement issued a flood watch for the D C region beginning at p m until midnight A majority of the region is also still under a heat advisory until p m Thursday Current weather warnings for D C region A severe thunderstorm warning for south central Loudoun County west central Fairfax County northeastern Fauquier County northwestern Prince William County and the northwestern portion of the City of Manassas in Northern Virginia until p m WTOP Meteorologist Mike Stinneford stated around p m that the storms building around the Interstate corridor would begin to blossom as a trough goes into selected very very moist air across the region Once these storms move in we could see rainfall rates of one to three inches per hour and that will cause flash flooding Stinneford stated Showers thunderstorms capable of producing damaging wind gusts and torrential downpours are expected across much of the area in the current era into this evening Isolated instances of flash flooding will be attainable with this convection High temperatures will be in the s to low s pic twitter com vqj wSUDIq NWS Baltimore-Washington NWS BaltWash July Before the storms temperatures climbed steadily into the upper s and low s by the afternoon The weather pattern follows repeated days of sticky heat topped with late-day showers and thunderstorms that have snarled traffic and led to flash flooding According to local highway administrators Monday evening s storms caused multiple flooding issues including mud and debris sucked into drainage pipes on selected the area s major roadways Listen to WTOP online and on the radio at FM or FM Current traffic conditions Weather forecast Closings and Delays Sign up for WTOP email alerts Get custom alerts with the WTOP app for Apple and Android phones Looking ahead Unfortunately Thursday will bring little relief as it is set to be the hottest day of the week van de Graaff noted Heat indexes will reach over degrees A little less coverage for storms still can be a sparse hefty ones he mentioned Mid- s will feel like triple digits for sure Thursday will be hot and humid and the return of late afternoon storms are in the forecast It ll grow muggy after sunset with areas of dense fog likely overnight Friday and Saturday will continue the weather trend of warm and humid conditions with the possibility of storms in the afternoon Temperatures will be in the mid to upper s FORECAST WEDNESDAY EVENING Partly sunny with afternoon showers and storms Temperatures s to s Winds South - mph WEDNESDAY NIGHT Lingering showers and storms Lows - Winds South mph THURSDAY Partly cloudy with isolated afternoon storms Highs - Heat index - Winds Southwest - mph FRIDAY Partly cloudy with showers and thunderstorms Highs - Winds Northwest - mph SATURDAY Scattered afternoon showers and storms Highs - Winds South - mph SUNDAY Afternoon showers and storms Highs Near Winds West - mph CURRENT CONDITIONS Source