A major storm system forming in the South will bring severe weather to the D.C. region as the National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for Friday afternoon, lasting through late Friday night.
Clusters of scattered thunderstorms will arrive in the early to mid-afternoon Friday, while a line of storms forms to the west in the mountains near the cold front.
The vigorous storm system forming in the Deep South will be lifting out Thursday night, heading toward the D.C. area, and it will be impacting the region Good Friday afternoon.
The primary threat in the afternoon and evening will be strong winds and some hail, but the heavy rainfall threat could last all the way into early Saturday morning. Comparatively speaking, the worst of the weather will be south of the area, but it will be close enough to impact.
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What to expect
A warm front will be well to the north of the D.C. area on Friday morning, and very humid air from the Gulf of Mexico will be transported into the area by a deep southerly wind flow. Meanwhile, temperatures will be almost as warm as Thursday, limited only by cloud cover.
With unseasonable warmth, unseasonably high humidity levels and a deep area of low pressure lifting up the Appalachian Mountains, bringing a strong cold front with it, all the ingredients will be in place for strong storms. It can be thought of as a high efficiency engine with a good fuel source; the highest “octane,” the most humidity and most unstable air, will be in southern Virginia into the Carolinas. But any extra sunshine and higher temperatures would increase the severe weather threat even more than is already thought.
Clusters of scattered thunderstorms will arrive in the early to mid-afternoon, while a line of storms forms to the west in the mountains near the cold front. The afternoon scattered storms will have the damaging winds and hail threat with brief heavy downpours.
The line moving in with the cold front at night will have a fairly solid line of thunderstorms with heavy downpours slowly moving west to east, so the repetitive storms will have the potential to really add up the rain totals.
And that’s when there could be some flooding of roads and small streams and creeks.
The front and the line of storms will have moved to the east by midday Saturday, and less humid and cooler air will continue moving in. The old storm center, the area of low pressure, will slowly drift through the area over the weekend.
Though that means the severe weather threat will be over, the atmosphere will be unstable enough for spotty showers on Saturday and first thing Easter Sunday morning. Sunrise services may not see much sunrise at all, but toward the end of the day, the sun will likely be breaking through clearing clouds.
Forecast
Thursday night: Mostly clear. Warm and pleasant. Temperatures falling into the low 70s to upper 60s after sunset.
Friday: Weather Alert Day. Mostly cloudy. A few showers in the morning, then thunderstorms arriving in the afternoon and evening. Some will be strong to severe, and rain may be heavy. Highs: low to mid 70s.
Saturday: Cloudy, breezy and cooler. A few scattered showers. Highs: upper 60s to low 70s.
Sunday: Partly sunny. A chance of a shower, mainly before noon. Highs: mid to upper 60s.
