Monday’s powerful winds downed trees, complicated traffic and caused thousands of power outages around the region.
As of about 5 p.m., Dominion Energy reported that over 500 customers were still without power in Northern Virginia. Pepco reported over 600 customers were still in the dark in D.C. and the Maryland suburbs.
A downed tree had blocked all lanes of the George Washington Parkway, near Morningside Lane in Alexandria earlier Monday afternoon. Downed trees also affected traffic along westbound I-70 near Ellicott City; Maryland Route 28 near Baltimore Road in Rockville; and Virginia Route 28 near Westfields Boulevard in Chantilly.
When driving today, be aware of tree debris or dark signals, and use extra caution when crossing bridges.
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And if you’re out late, it’s about time to break out the jacket — at least for the next couple of days.
Wind chills will likely dive below freezing on Monday evening overnight into Tuesday, though daytime highs should trend warmer toward the middle of the week.
“In addition to dealing with the wind, many of us will have to deal with subfreezing wind chills for the first time since spring,” NBC Washington meteorologist Chuck Bell said. “Layer up if you will be spending much time outdoors.”
Election Day voters in the D.C. region can generally expect sunny skies, calmer winds and daytime highs inching their way into the upper 50s to mid 60s.
Overnight lows, however, will stay chilly owing to high pressure and the lack of insulating cloud cover. The region could be in for a hard freeze from Tuesday night into Wednesday, when temperatures are forecast to drop into the upper 30s to low 40s — before factoring in the breeze.
Windy and cold today. Wind chills will be below freezing this morning, with winds gusting up to 50 mph as we head towards midday. Winds will diminish later this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/LaC8v2Yxrj
— NWS Baltimore-Washington (@NWS_BaltWash) November 2, 2020
Forecast:
Monday: Very cold start, frost and freeze possible for some, strong winds through the day, mostly sunny. Temperatures: Wind chills in the 20s with highs around 50.
Monday night: A breezy evening with clear skies. Cold, with highs in the mid 40s and wind chills in the 20s and 30s.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny, dry. Temperatures: Highs in the mid to upper 50s.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny and milder. Temperatures: Highs in the low 60s.
Thursday: Mostly sunny and milder. Temperatures: Highs in the mid to upper 60s.
Friday: Sunny. Highs in the upper 60s to low 70s.
Outages:
Current conditions:
WTOP’s Jack Pointer contributed to this report.
