Fierce and furious thunderstorms, suggestive of the turbulence of summer, slashed across a swath of the Washington region Monday, toppling trees, tearing down power lines and sending hailstones clattering onto roofs, streets and backyard decks.
By Tuesday morning, Pepco said about 500 customers were without power, mostly in Northwest Washington. In Northern Virginia, about 1,100 customers were still without power early Tuesday. Most of them were in the Fairfax area and Prince William County.
Southeastern Fairfax County along the Potomac River in Virginia, and northern Charles and Calvert counties in Maryland, were hit particularly hard before the storm crossed the Chesapeake Bay to Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
@capitalweather @ChuckBell4
— Mary Lundregan (@MaryLundregan) May 17, 2022
Video of this afternoon’s INTENSE storm in the Ft Hunt section of Alexandria, just off the GW Parkway. Video taken by my son, Connor Lundregan (sharing with his permission). pic.twitter.com/14W4VxUD7C
Reports of hailstones seemed to follow a similar track, evoking astonishment at their size and their number from many witnesses. People looked at them in wonder, listened to the clatter they made and took pictures of them as they fell. One witness described at least one of the glittering agglomerations of ice as measuring three inches across.
Even LARGER #Hail in Calvert County MD
— Justin Berk (@JustinWeather) May 17, 2022
This from Larua Gray's co-worker pic.twitter.com/3HBGxWOWcR
Only a few miles to the north of the storm’s track, residents saw what mainly were only hints of the meteorological intensity their neighbors were experiencing.
Between 4 and 5 p.m. the wind gusted up to 45 mph at Reagan National Airport, which was near the storm’s northern edge. Heavy rain cut visibility to three-quarters of a mile and amounted to about one-fifth of an inch.
Warnings about the possibility of the storm prompted transit systems and school systems to take precautions. Schools in Howard County, Md., closed three hours early. Anne Arundel County Public Schools canceled after-school activities.
In some places, trees reportedly fell onto houses; in other spots, they fell onto streets and rain-slicked roads, at times blocking or slowing traffic.
My backyard. Lake Ridge VA near Lake Ridge Middle School. pic.twitter.com/9O7MHC61fP
— Phil Bowers, PGA (@PBPGA) May 17, 2022
Several large trees were uprooted in the Lake Ridge area of Prince William near Springwoods Drive and Old Bridge Road. Trees fell on the George Washington Memorial Parkway south of Alexandria.
Police in Prince William County warned motorists that traffic lights could be out at some intersections.
For all its power and ferocity, the storm swept out of the area early enough for skies over Washington to clear and sunshine to flood the city, and for an atmospheric serenity to govern the evening.
Dana Hedgpeth contributed to this report.