Update: A Rainy, Possibly Stormy Night

No heavy rain here in Silver Spring, but it has rained.

Judging by the radar alone, we could begin to see especially heavy rain within the next few hours.

With a tornado watch in effect and storms rolling in, I do NOT like seeing "RADAR NOT AVAILABLE" on the NWS radar. EEK!

I agree, weatherdudeVA. I'm hunkering down here in Harpers Ferry, utterly terrified. Storming like the end of the world. I'd sure appreciate some info. Should I run now or wait?

Should see rain in the area 4 the next 4 hrs. Sorry, no chance of snow.

Tinkerbelle, you should be fine waiting it out.

Tinkerbelle: The heart of the storms seem headed right for the heart of DC. If you're out west (pardon my local geography if I'm wrong), I wouldn't worry too much.

Weatherdude and Tinkerbelle, I've activated my emergency weather radio in Alert mode. It was a Christmas present: http://lowtechtimes.com/2008/01/03/christmas-presents-review/

mcleaNed, oh boy. The rain has picked up in intensity here in Silver Spring. I guess we could be in for a right pelting for the next many minutes.

All the prec. should b gone 4 most of the area between 1230-130 am.

Under estimated rain amounts, looks like 1.5 - 2". If weretemps were only 30 degrees colder.

Was that thunder I just heard? Probably not.

mcleaNed, I also hope not.

Currently experiencing what can be best described as torrential downpours in Stafford County. It has been this way for hte past two hours.

It will be lovely to fall asleep tonight with the sound of rain on the roof. Here's hoping for no thunder, no lightening, no floods and no tornadoes - and that we all have power in the morning!

Lots of rain in Spotsylvania, VA. Wish it was snow.

Very steady/peaceful rain as long as your indoors.

Let me elaborate. The rain is peaceful as long as your indoors.....:) I couldn't imagine getting drenched on a peaceful experience.

Forget 1 inch. Forget 1.5 inches. Judging by the very sound of the rain and the radar echoes, I'm going to predict 2.5 inches for the general DC area. We seem stuck in the middle of the rain line, with more to our Southwest.

Already about 1.27 inches here, says the McLean weatherbug.

00z came in. Pretty similar to 18z. If the storm can jog east even by 50-100 miles, it will bring i-95 corridor a big snow. It is VERY Borderline at this point...so way to early to draw rain/snow lines. If the storm rapidly intesifies, we could also see more snow.

We need an eastern shift.

AUGUSTA JIM: What are your thoughts with the low taking a more eastern track. Thanks

Got into some very heavy rain for a period here in Glover Park .. happened to be caught out in it and did see some localized street flooding. DCA with .27" through 11pm ob, but probably picked up at least another .1" since.

1.50" so far in NW Spotsy. Looks like another 1-1/2 hrs of rain. 2" looking likely. All I have 2 do is wash my truck & the rain will fall, good thing I didn't wash my bass boat. Only wish this worked in the summer.

Only picked up .07" here so far. The storms moving just northwest of Richmond are looking pretty good if they hang on. Also, the 00z looked interesting, definitely a storm to watch...aren't they all though?

Well what do you have 2 do to get the snow to fall VTechBob? A mere 30 degrees!

The rain is good; we've been so dry. The wind, not so good. I'm in a tall house on a tall hill in the Shenandoah Valley--okay, granted, not a smart design--and I'm afraid I'll lose my roof or a picture window. Anyone have an update on those straight-line winds that were in Charlottesville an hour or so ago?

It's nights like this I wish I already had a weather alert radio. Please god, if you get me through this night, I will buy one this weekend. I hate tornadoes more than almost any other natural disaster (hurricanes being number 1).

In a high rise on University of Maryland and not worried at all... so far, nothing for me to worry about here in College Park

Har, ep: I'm at the "Please, God" stage too.

Strong winds just knocked out power down here in Stafford. I have a hard time distingusihing high winds vs. Tornado.

Does a tornado have a distingushed sound.

tinkerbelle,

They moved through here in Stafford. We lost power. Dont worry, no Tornadoes, just some high gusts.

I'm west of the location mentioned, but my radio just kicked on with an alert for a severe thunderstorm near The Plains moving NE towards Gainesville.

The last of the severe weather should pass by 12:30 4 areas S&W of DC.

Just moved through the "Please God" stage myself in Manassas. On the plus side, I now appear to have waterfront property. Wow.

A tornado sounds like a freight train. There have been no tornado reports in the metro area, but very strong straight line winds have been observed.

Here comes the line of red. Brace yourselves...

Just heard thunder outside, if I'm not mistaken.

Sometimes storms produce miro brusts which cause alot of straight line wind damage. Tornadic winds cause alot of circular damage. Don't think we will have any tornado's 2night. The Grinch who stoled tornado's.

keep your tornadoes and microbursts and straight line winds ... i'm just about to head OUT of DC back to the wilds of Fauquier ......

Thunder in Harpers Ferry now, no mistake. As for freight train sounds--we've got plenty of *actual* freight trains, so I'm a total basket case.

Uh, I hate to ask, but I'm watching WUSA-9's Live Doppler 9000 HD channel, and do all those little spinning circle animations in the strongest parts of the storm mean what I think they mean?

I count nine just now...

last R+ line just moved through eastern Fairfax. . .another .44" rain no strong/damaging winds. . .just heavy rain for 10 minutes. Light now. . . please drop tornado watch and let folks sleep easy.

Crofton is seeing some pretty hardcore winds right now....

Zoom out far enough on the radar, and you'll see that this storm is beginning to move south to north--with DC still in the middle of it all. I predict rainfall continuing until about 4 in the morning, with an additional half inch soaking the ground.

those spinning circles just signify where the areas of circulation are...doesnt mean a tornado is going to form, just means if a tornado were to form, those are the areas with the highest probability of it happening

Where is the best place (online, weather phone number, etc.) to check for reported tornado activity? In the midwest, where I grew up, they have loud tornado warning horns but they don't have them here so I'm not sure where to check.

No Worries, everyone is alive. No tornadoes.

Tomorrow lets talk about our next weekend storm .Rain? Snow? Severe Storms again? Who knows.

Just a little more nervous about tornadoes since we're living in a mobile home.

Carrie- Tornado warnings would be broadcast on the major TV networks on a crawl at the bottom of the screen. Weather radio would broadcast the warnings. We would attempt to post warnings on this site, and the warnings would be posted on the National Weather Service web site. For the metro area, I think the tornado risk is rapidly diminishing (and we never felt it was that high).