Rainfall totals that created Thursday's flash flooding in D.C. and some of its suburbs

Fire Weather Concerns; Record Warmth Spreads

The Plains to the mid-Mississippi Valley continue with warm and dry conditions. Any fires that initiate could spread quickly. The warm temperatures will expand across the Southern Plains into the Southwest where numerous records are expected through the weekend. Meanwhile, a cold front will move southward across the northern Plains and Great Lakes region where some snow will develop this weekend. Read More >

Thursday afternoon September 10th 2020

Early on Thursday afternoon, showers and thunderstorms arose along a weak atmospheric boundary oriented north to south across the Washington area. The storms that formed were fed by tropical moisture to our southeast which allowed for heavy rainfall rates. In addition, weak winds in the atmosphere kept the storms moving slowly. That combination of heavy rain and slow movement allowed for 2-5" of rain to fall in a relatively narrow corridor across parts of the Washington metro area. Most of that rain fell within 2 hours.

The heavy rains produced flash flooding of numerous roads and streams and first responders conducted several water rescues. The hardest hit areas were: the District of Columbia, Arlington and Alexandria Virginia, and the Maryland suburbs in Prince Georges and Montgomery Counties.