WASHINGTON — It’s looking like a swath of heavy rain is headed to the D.C. area by the day’s end.
It is a StormTeam4 Weather Alert Day not because of the heat this time around (although Thursday will be another sweltering day) but because heavy rain is headed this way.
The set-up
A weakening, stalled front is draped across the Mid-Atlantic, waving back and forth from the Mason-Dixon Line to Central Virginia. Eventually this front will wash out by Friday morning, and another front will drop in for Saturday morning. That front looks to meander around the region again through the weekend and into Monday. Pieces of energy will continue to move out of the west and into the D.C. region Thursday afternoon and through the weekend bringing heavy rain to the region as these disturbances interact with the deep moisture that continues to stream into the area from the south. Therefore, flooding will certainly become a concern with consecutive rounds of locally heavy rain.
Timing
A couple waves of rain will impact the region. Expect a few showers through the midday on Thursday but the main event will affect the area late afternoon and into the early evening. It is at that time that you can expect torrential downpours (which will increase the flooding threat), lightning, and damaging winds. The entire region will have a chance to experience these conditions, however, the greatest threat looks to be Washington, D.C. and areas to the south and east. (See first graphic with areas outlined in yellow).
Rain and storms will likely continue into the overnight and through the first part of Friday as the disturbance passes through the region. Expect late day clearing on Friday with dry conditions through Friday night and into Saturday morning.
By Saturday afternoon, another disturbance will roll through the region bringing another wave of rain to the area. This should continue into Saturday night and could even linger into Sunday.
With the front hanging in the area through Sunday, periods of rain are possible. Therefore, just plan for a wet weekend across the region and even at times at area beaches.
Temperatures
Thursday will be the last day of the heat wave with temperatures in the 90s and heat indices near 100. Due to extra cloud cover Friday and through the weekend, temperatures will be back to seasonable, topping out in the mid to upper 80s.
Storms could be rolling through the region right during the evening commute on Thursday and the Friday morning commute so just keep an eye to the sky and keep it on WTOP/NBC4. The return of sunshine returns on Tuesday and Wednesday with temperatures rebounding back into the lower to mid 90s by the end of the next work week.
