National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Unsettled Weather Continuing over the Western and Eastern U.S. into Mid Week

Two storm systems, one over the Desert Southwest, and one over the Ohio Valley, will continue to bring unsettled weather and cooler temperatures into the middle of the week. Moderate to heavy rainfall, along with the potential for flash flooding, is forecast from the Ohio Valley to the East Coast. Moderate to locally heavy rainfall is expected over the Northern Rockies, Great Basin and Southwest. Read More >

Overview

A severe thunderstorm quickly tracked from north to south from Fredericksburg through the Richmond Metro between 2 and 4:30 PM on 6/22. The track roughly followed I-95. Widespread tree and power line damage was observed, and there were close to 100,000 power outages in the Richmond metro alone at one point. While measured gusts topped out around 60 mph, there were likely 80 mph winds in a few spots along the path of the storm. Some of the worst damage occurred in Richmond, where the roof was ripped off of an apartment complex. To put it in perspective, our office has only issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning with an 80 mph (now also known as Destructive) tag two times before (going back to 2010). To put a number on it, for approximately every 1000 SVRs that we have issued, only one has the 80 mph wind tag. Note that SVSs are not included in this calculation.

In addition, this was quite an unusual setup with northerly to northwesterly flow over a fairly deep layer and a complex surface pattern with higher dew points/instability to the north. While the model soundings indicated a threat for localized severe winds, nothing stood out that pointed towards a significant (75+mph) wind event. See Environment section for more details. This page may be updated with more details in the coming days.

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