Thunderstorms Push Through D.C. Region

Thunderstorms pushed through the Washington region for much of the evening tonight, knocking out power to about 50,000 homes from Fauquier and Fairfax Counties in Virginia to Carroll County on the Pennsylvania border in Maryland.

Sudden downpours brought as much as a half of an inch of rain in brief periods in the northern Virginia area, and hail was reported in many places; hailstone diameters as big as an inch were described.

Trees fell onto a road in the Lovettsville area of Loudoun County, and onto houses in Carroll County. Many trees were down in the Opal area of Fauquier County, and a tree fell near t he MARC commuter train station in Point of Rocks, in Frederick County, Md.

The storms, created by an oncoming cold front, brought temperatures down sharply, and many places recorded readings in t he 70s or low 80s tonight, including Leesburg, where afternoon temperatures reached 100.

The Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm watch until 10 p.m. for the Washington area, predicting that storms this evening could produce hail and winds reaching 60 miles an hour. There were also numerous thunderstorm warnings posted around the region as the weather system developed.

"We will get some [storms], the question is how many and how strong they will be," said meteorologist Andy Woodcock. "You've got so much energy in the atmosphere right now, it's so hot and so humid, that if a storm forms, it could create widespread damage."

Still, Woodcock said, tonight's weather is not predicted to pack the punch of last week's storm, which produced at least one local tornado and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands in the Washington region.

"Those don't happen every week," he said. "That was one of the top five events I've seen in 18 years of working here."

And the approaching weather system could spell a break from the heat wave that moved into the area last week, leaving some households to endure temperatures in the high 90s without working air conditioning or refrigerators. The high temperature for today was 96 degrees.

The mercury won't be budging dramatically; the forecast calls for temperatures in the upper 80s tomorrow. But compared to the recent of run of heat indexes 102 and higher, a big break in the humidity should make for less clingy shirts and less frizzy hair.

"The difference is going to be the amount of moisture in the air," Woodcock said. "It's going to feel quite comfortable."