Flash flood risk in part of DC region from Wednesday into Thursday

The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch for some counties in the D.C. area, including parts of Maryland and Virginia, from Wednesday morning through Thursday morning.

Impacted areas in Maryland include central and eastern Allegany, extreme western Allegany, Frederick, Garrett and Washington. In Virginia, it’s western Loudoun, Clarke, Frederick, Madison, northern Fauquier, Rappahannock and Warren counties.



The western suburbs of D.C. were already seeing some spotty showers Tuesday afternoon, although most of the region was staying dry amid the clouds, Storm Team4 meteorologist Matt Ritter said.

Soaking rains are possible first in the very far western suburbs late Tuesday night into Wednesday, Ritter said.

“Then the rain will spread eastward toward the D.C. area and the I-95 corridor toward tomorrow evening,” Ritter said.

Spotty showers during the day Wednesday are expected to become more numerous with some thunderstorms possible later toward evening.

When can you expect the most rain?

Storm Team4 meteorologist Matt Ritter said most of the soaking rain will fall Wednesday night into the first part of Thursday.

And all that rain could bring some flooding chances, Storm Team4 meteorologist Lauryn Ricketts said.

“We will also have to watch for some flooding Wednesday night into Thursday morning across the region due to possibly heavy rain,” Ricketts said.

Otherwise on Thursday, which is the first full day of fall, temperatures will be in the low 70s and you can expect plenty of cloud cover with cooler conditions.

Most of the rain should exit the region with a cold front by Friday morning, although some rain could get held up, especially south of the D.C. area, Ricketts said.

Sunshine returns Friday with more fall-like temperatures in the upper 60s and lower 70s.

The weekend should be sunny with temperatures in the mid-70s.


Forecast:

Tuesday evening:  Mostly cloudy. A few spotty showers, mostly west of DC. Otherwise warm and muggy. Temperatures in the 70s.

Tuesday night: Cloudy, more muggy with a few showers. Lows 60s to near 70.

Wednesday: Cloudy. Seasonably warm but unseasonably very humid. Spotty showers during the day becoming more numerous with some thunderstorms later toward evening. Becoming breezy.

Thursday: Scattered showers, cloudy. Highs in the low to mid 70s.

Friday: Clearing to sunshine, fall-like. Highs near 70


Current conditions:

WTOP’s Jack Moore contributed to this report. 

Will Vitka

William Vitka is a Digital Writer/Editor for WTOP.com. He's been in the news industry for over a decade. Before joining WTOP, he worked for CBS News, Stuff Magazine, The New York Post and wrote a variety of books—about a dozen of them, with more to come.

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