Winchester (nw) VA

Pardon my lack of posting lately, but been I've been busy & the weather
here had been "average".

While thunderstorms do tend to bring localized deluges, my area has been
spared. On Sunday, the Berkeley Springs WV got about 3.5" in a few hours
Sunday. Areas south & east of Charlottesville VA also received 3-6" in
separate events in the past few weeks. There was little media coverage
because the areas are rural served by small market tv stations.

Here we have had two 1" rain events the first week of the month. On July
4th there were showers at 8am & 3pm. A line of dying thunderstorms
arrived at dusk. Thunder battled with firecrackers for attention. The
first storm died out, a new storm generated about 11pm. Extreme
northern & southern parts of the county had less than .10", while I
measured 1.05" for the day.

I managed, along with others in the neighborhood, to have cookouts
Sunday evening. The city had it's fireworks display Saturday. The county
had it's display Sunday 5 miles south of my location & was spared most
of the storm. Only about 1/10" rain fell, but the lightning was close.

On Monday, I hung clothes on the line. I knew there was incoming storms
(30 miles west) that I would have to take the clothes in early. I looked
out about 4pm, & saw a threatening sky. No lightning on the radio & no
rain on the radar. A few minutes lightning & huge rain drops. With the
dangers of lightning, I decided to let the "quick shower" to pass. It
developed quickly, and .35" rain fell in under an hour. I ending up
taking the clothes in, spinning them out in the washer, & then in the
dryer. As it turned out, the sun remained out the rest of the day.

On Tuesday, I had rugs on the line. I saw a few light showers just west
of my location. Not wanting a repeat, I brought the rugs in & placed
them in the dryer. Within moments, a light shower became heavy with some
lightning & winds to 36mph. I measured 1.02", and .5" fell in 10 minutes
(3" per hour)! The area has been dry & there was no flooding reported.
It was very localized event. Locations 5 miles N & S of my location had
only about .18" of rain! When the 1st round ended here, it was 72º
here. At WINC radio it was still 85º, and Senseny Road ES about 7
miles away had only measured .03"!

We missed real storms Wednesday. Only .10" fell here, and WINC measured
.22". The months rain is 2.68".
======

The storms that formed early in the afternoon dumped 1-3" in a scattered
locations near Washington DC & over southeast VA. However, the Woodmont
& Mt. Washington sections of Baltimore had several inches of rain
between 3:30 and 5:30pm. The Jones Falls flash flooded, in some cases to
bridges. It actually swept over the Smith Ave bridge.

The 911 call center had 400 calls for service, including 36 calls for
water rescues & storm damage.

Several buildings were damaged. An auto repair shop's roof collapsed
completely, as a did a gas station canopy. A building next to a stream
had it's foundation ripped away, & it's wall separated. The building is
now condemned. Two churches were struck by lightning. Both had serious
damage, but were not gutted.

Amazingly, no one was reported hurt.

The drama unfolded live on Baltimore tv during the early evening
newscasts. A news helicopter from Washington's WRC also provided
coverage. It was the lead story on the Washington tv station as well. I
have about 2 dozen vidcaps in the album.

Doppler radar estimated a max of 3.9" fell in the region. I counted 13
sites with over 2" of rain Wednesday afternoon. Including:

WMAR tv: 2.73" (Max rate 4.56" per hour!)
Gilmen School, Baltimore, 2.88"
Roland Park Country..., Baltimore 2.90"
Towson 2.98"
Leakin Park 4.06"
Westview 4.40"
Catonsville 4.44"
 

24 Hour Precip, High & Low temperatures for Baltimore/Washington NWS CWA
(ending 8am Thur)
http://wxmatrix-membersonly/group/VA_StormNet/message/40668

Local Storm Warnings, Baltimore Washington NWS CWA
http://wxmatrix-membersonly/group/VA_StormNet/message/40669

News coverage, Baltimore Sun (Thur print edition story cc&p here, w/
links to photos & followup story)
http://wxmatrix-membersonly/group/VA_StormNet/message/40670

Vidcaps (Photo album)
http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4003288&a=31318557&f=

Steve Minghini

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