Alert: Severe Thunderstorm Watch Until 8 P.M.

Oh great. More storms maybe coming.
:-)

Guys, are you just doing the cut and paste thang with the updates? It must be getting hard to come up with original things to say about the same weather phenomenon, day after day after day after day ...

Hmph. So does this mean tonight isn't a great night to hit the Folklife Festival?

ep -- Hey, give Mother Nature some credit. She gave us all of a 3-day break from the storm threat. And now looks to be making us pay with the start of another streak.

Thunderstorm popping up west of Alexandria. Lots of towering clouds out there.

That sucks! I rode my bike to work!

bikecommuter, free bike cleaning on the way home today.

Another small storm popping up right west of D.C. -- thunder reported at DCA.

Raining here by Union Station. Not much wind, though

First crack of thunder heard here in L'Enfant...

Still blue skies near the Nat Cathedral.

::sigh::

anyone want to comment on this:
http://www.nebraska.tv/Global/story.asp?S=8563368&nav=menu605_2

i've never heard of such a thing before!

"Cozad residents woke this morning to a weather phenomenon as a heat burst rolled through town. Temperatures rose 20 degrees in a matter of minutes while winds reached speeds of 75 miles per hour.

Many had no idea what was happening. Mike Steinwart, Cozad Street Department, said it came quickly. "No warning, not even a whistle, I thought it was a tornado. The way people explained. I thought it was a tornado, but they say it was a heat burst."

Thunder here in Dumfries/Southbridge area. I'm not sure if the storm will pass us or not.
Weatherdude--hope you're enjoying your summer. My daughter (PSHS class of 2011) is equally as glad for summer!! Where do you recommend for purchase of a NOAA radio here in our part of eastern PWC? I'd sure appreciate your expertise.

southbridgemom: A weather radio is never a bad idea -- and will serve particularly useful when power is out. Of course, there are many ways to get weather watches and warnings now, including on the web, on TV, and via mobile devices like your cellphone. Here is a weather radio we recommend: Midland

Tonight's forecast: dark, followed by scattered light in the morning.

RIP George Carlin (1937-2008)

That heat burst sounds like what in India we called a "loo," meaning a hot dry windstorm (obviously, different from the British "loo!")

I just bought the Midland WR-300 weather alert radio at amazon.com for $45. I love that it has batteries for backup power and is selectable for alerts by county (SAME) technology.

Jeff, the event at Cozad was probably a local mini downslope wind storm.

See:
http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=downslope-windstorm2

These typically occur along the lee slopes of the Rockies. Cozad is too far from the eastern slopes for the event to be related to flow over the mountains.

But, there was a pronounced W-SW low level wind max passing over the hilly, rugged terrain just upstream from COZAD, which might have resulted in a mini version of the real thing

Eton/Grundig also offers a variety of multi-band/weather radios with crank-powered backup and cell-phone charger.
Capital Climate

Hey CWG--
Thanks for the suggestion. I want the radio to add to my arsenal of information sources. I'm just a big weather geek at heart. I need the weather radio for times when I can't get to my computer to check out your updates. :)

wow! that was a lot of rain, not much lightning.

came from annapolis on route 50 to bowie, got to watch the storm roll in. black clouds all to the north and west, with a small swath of blue sky the SE, then i got into it and it was dark as can be, then the rain. for the rain rate (think wipers on fastest possible while going only 25mph), i was surprised there was no hail. not that i am complaining, hail is something i've avoided this year so far.

was interesting to see the difference in composition v. the last few sets of storms that have rolled through: this was rain rain rain, the last few were lightning-filled.

Fyi, folks -- we've had a more recent storm forecast post up since about 3:15.