Flash Flood Watches still in effect

UPDATE: Thursday – 6/12/2014, 8:25pm ET

A Flash Flood Watch is in effect until midnight for most of the area.

Additionally, there’s a Flash Flood Warning for Washington County, Maryland until 10:00 p.m.

In Frederick County, Maryland and Loudoun County, Virginia, there’s a flood warning for urban areas and small streams.

Check out our Traffic Blog for more on how the weather impacted Thursday commutes.

UPDATE: Thursday – 6/12/2014, 4:20pm ET

WASHINGTON – The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Warning until 6:45 p.m. for parts of Montgomery County in Maryland and Loudoun County in Virginia.

As much as 1 to 2 inches of rain has already fallen in these areas.

The warning has been extended until 7:15 p.m. for parts of Washington and Frederick counties in Maryland.

As much as 3 inches of rain has already fallen in these areas and another 1 inch is expected, according to the weather service.

A warning means that flooding is imminent or occurring. Flash flood waters rise quickly and just 1 foot of flowing water can sweep a vehicle off the road.

EARLIER: Thursday – 6/12/2014, 12:45pm ET

WASHINGTON – There is yet again another chance of showers and storms as we continue through the afternoon and evening hours Thursday.

Thank goodness for the cloud cover, which will help stabilize us and keep temperatures down into the low- to possibly mid-80s for daytime highs. However, with dew points are measuring around 70 degrees. There is a lot of moisture to work with in the air, which increases the humidity levels.

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The reason for the increased humidity levels is because we have a piece of energy edging towards the East Coast from the Midwest, and winds are circulating around that piece of energy counterclockwise. An area of high pressure sits off the eastern seaboard with winds circulating around the high pressure clockwise. Because we are sandwiched between the two, a nice southerly stream of warm air from the Deep South is transported right into the WTOP listening area.

Because we have so much moisture in the air, any storms or rain that we do see today will have the potential to bring some flooding to the region. A flash flood watch has been posted for the entire area from noon until midnight Thursday.

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Although we had widespread severe storms around the region yesterday, I do not believe we will have a widespread severe outbreak today. However we have an increased threat today to see some flash flooding around the region.

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The Enhanced Threat for Flash Flooding Conditions around our region today.

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Rainfall accumulation over the past two days. Prince Georges County saw anywhere from a quarter inch to 4 inches of rain.

Because we have had so much rain in the past 48 hours, it is not going to take much rainfall to create flash flooding conditions. In fact, according to the National Weather Service, it will only take between 1.2 inches to 2.25 inches of rain to fall in one hour around the Greater D.C. metro area to create conditions favorable for flash flooding.

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Unfortunately, we do this all again Friday with a threat of showers and storms throughout the day as the piece of energy in the Midwest will travel to the east bringing its cold front with it. The cold front will march through by Saturday morning. For the most part, these showers and storms will be in the afternoon hours Friday. But we could also see a few during the morning hours.

I expect just a touch more sunshine on Friday than on Thursday. But temperatures will still hold in the mid-80s. However, I am still advertising a beautiful weekend with dew points in the 50s and temperatures in the low- to mid-80s.

Plenty of sunshine around for this weekend as we continue our wonderful weekend streak – we are up to five beautiful weekends in a row!

Follow @WTOP on Twitter and WTOP on Facebook. You can also follow Lauryn Ricketts on Facebook.

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