Rains, flooding add to ‘the year of weather’
When it rains, it pours.
The past month has brought brief but ferocious storms to the Washington region, where another bout of torrential rush-hour rain overwhelmed local streams, flooded area roads and ruined commutes Wednesday morning.
The latest storm followed on the heels of Thursday’s downpour, which flooded Metro stations, caused power outages and prompted D.C. officials to distribute sandbags. Just two weeks earlier, a thunderstorm with fierce winds knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of Maryland and Virginia households.
Those storms, combined with scorching summer temperatures and last winter’s record-smashing snows, have local residents wondering what is going on with the weather.
Chris Strong, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said he understands waterlogged residents’ frustrations.
“It’s really been the year of weather,” he said.
Strong said the average temperature in the region since June 1 is 81.7 degrees — a record high, according to the National Weather Service. This summer’s average temperature shattered the previous record high of 80 degrees set back in 1980.
Strong said the summer heat was a global phenomenon, and had much to do with the recent storms.
The scorching temperatures have caused water to evaporate at ground level, which adds moisture to the atmosphere. Strong said that moisture acts as fuel for violent thunderstorms and heavy rains like the ones that have wreaked havoc on Washington.
Despite the storms, Strong said he had recently issued drought warnings west of the District in parts of Virginia and Maryland, where conditions are still unusually dry because of the heat.
“We’ve had a lot of extremes,” he said.
That was certainly true last winter, when nearly five feet of snow blanketed the District — more than quadruple the seasonal average.
Wednesday’s extreme weather dumped up to three inches of rain on parts of the region, and prompted dozens of emergency response calls for local fire and rescue officials.
“Turn around, don’t drown. That’s our slogan for the day,” said Billy Hayes, a spokesman for D.C. Fire and Rescue.
Hayes said D.C. fire officials activated three swift-water rescue teams, three fireboats and other “special operations units” to respond to emergency calls. Those and other emergency response units conducted more that a dozen water rescues before 9:30 Wednesday morning.
Emergency workers — including fire department “rescue swimmers” — rescued half a dozen people stranded in automobiles on Broad Branch Road and on Canal Road near Fletcher’s Boathouse in Northwest D.C., according to fire department spokesman Pete Piringer.
“People said a wall of water just came up on them,” Piringer said.
Emergency crews in Fairfax County performed similar rescues, pulling a woman from a vehicle near Great Falls where water had reached the car’s hood.
Hayes said emergency response teams fielded roughly 75 calls Wednesday morning, twice the usual volume.
He said callers reported fallen trees, downed electrical wires and flooded basements at “too many locations to name.”
Residents throughout the area reported power outages, but not nearly as extensively as in previous storms.
More rain pummeled the Washington region Wednesday evening. And to make matters worse, meteorologists say more rough weather could be on the way.
“The big wild card is the tropical season,” Strong said, describing the annual period of hurricane activity that pushes wind and thunderstorms from the Gulf of Mexico up the East Coast.
Forecasters at the National Weather Service have predicted a “more active” tropical season this year, which peaks for the region between mid-August and the end of September.
Strong said he couldn’t fully explain the region’s year of record-breaking weather events. But he could offer one small bit of comfort.
“Fall tends to be, climatologically, the most tranquil time of year.”
