Steamy Saturday turns stormy and rainy throughout DC area

WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 27: Tourists struggle against the wind and rain while visiting the nation's capital in advance of the arrival of Hurricane Irene August 27, 2011 in Washington, DC. Hurricane Irene made landfall this morning in North Carolina and is expected to move up the east coast of the United States. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)(Getty Images/Win McNamee)

After a steamy start to Saturday, the day will wrap up with showers and thunderstorms in the evening and through the night.



Watches and Warnings

After a line of severe thunderstorms swept across the WTOP listening area, fallen trees are blocking a number of streets and thousands of residents are without power.

Winds downed a tree on Independence Avenue SE, between 6th and 7th streets. (WTOP/Dan Friedell)
Winds downed a tree on Independence Avenue SE, between 6th and 7th streets. (WTOP/Dan Friedell)
Winds downed a tree on Independence Avenue SE, between 6th and 7th streets. (WTOP/Dan Friedell)
Winds downed a tree on Independence Avenue SE, between 6th and 7th streets. (WTOP/Dan Friedell)
Winds downed a tree on Independence Avenue SE, between 6th and 7th streets. (WTOP/Dan Friedell)
Winds downed a tree on Independence Avenue SE, between 6th and 7th streets. (WTOP/Dan Friedell)
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Winds downed a tree on Independence Avenue SE, between 6th and 7th streets. (WTOP/Dan Friedell)
Winds downed a tree on Independence Avenue SE, between 6th and 7th streets. (WTOP/Dan Friedell)
Winds downed a tree on Independence Avenue SE, between 6th and 7th streets. (WTOP/Dan Friedell)
Pepco is currently reporting around 700 outages, the majority of them affecting customers in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and D.C.

In Virginia, close to 3,000 Dominion customers are currently in the dark, most of them in Fairfax County.

The Arlington County Fire Department responded to reports of a potential lightning strike at a house on Military Road just off Route 29. No injuries were reported.

WTOP listener Melissa Mattsson captured footage of an apparent funnel cloud swirling in North Potomac, Maryland, shortly before 7 p.m. on Saturday. See the video below.

Forecast

Saturday started off being hazy, hot and humid with a mix of clouds and sunshine.

A cold front that headed toward the D.C. area is causing the scattered showers and thunderstorms throughout the evening.

“Any storms that do develop will bring heavy downpours that could lead to some flooding issues and the strongest storms could contain some gusty winds,” said Storm Team4 meteorologist Lauryn Ricketts.

Those in and around D.C. Sunday should prepare for rain showers throughout the day.

Here’s a look at the forecast for the rest of the weekend and the start of the new week:

Saturday evening: Humid with lingering showers and a few storms. Overnight highs in the 70s.

Sunday: Scattered showers

Monday: AM showers; PM clearing with falling humidity. Highs in the mid-80s.

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