Alert archive / Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 2020

Flash Flood Warning 63, NWS Baltimore/Washington

September 10, 2020Arlington County, Fairfax County, City of Alexandria, Virginia; Montgomery County, Prince George's County, Maryland

NWS Baltimore/Washington issued this flash flood warning at Sep 10, 2020, 1:28 PM EDT for Arlington County, Fairfax County, City of Alexandria, Virginia; Montgomery County, Prince George's County, Maryland. It was in force for 3 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Sep 10, 2020, 1:28 PM EDT (17:28 UTC)
Expired
Sep 10, 2020, 4:14 PM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Baltimore/Washington
Area
Storm-based polygon
Flood severity
None

Counties Montgomery County, MD, Prince George's County, MD, Arlington County, VA, City of Alexandria, VA, Fairfax County, VA

The radar

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 35 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:30 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Wallops Is Stn, VA (KWAL), launched 12:00Z, 5.5 hours before the alert went out and 183 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Wallops Is Stn, VA at 12:00Z on 2020-09-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1088 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Wallops Is Stn, VA at 12:00Z on 2020-09-10The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 142 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1088 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
575 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
142 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
167 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.5
Supercell composite
3.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Baltimore/Washington wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Sep 10, 9:40 AM EDT, 3 hours 48 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 10, 9:40 AM EDT, 3 hours 48 minutes before
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Hazardous weather outlook, Sep 10, 5:00 AM EDT, 8 hours 28 minutes before
Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Baltimore MD/Washington DC
500 AM EDT Thu Sep 10 2020

ANZ530>543-DCZ001-MDZ011-013-014-016>018-508-VAZ052>057-111000-
Chesapeake Bay north of Pooles Island MD-
Chesapeake Bay from Pooles Island to Sandy Point MD-
Chesapeake Bay from Sandy Point to North Beach MD-
Chesapeake Bay from North Beach to Drum Point MD-
Chesapeake Bay from Drum Point MD to Smith Point VA-
Tidal Potomac from Key Bridge to Indian Head MD-
Tidal Potomac from Indian Head to Cobb Island MD-
Tidal Potomac from Cobb Island MD to Smith Point VA-
Patapsco River including Baltimore Harbor-
Chester River to Queenstown MD-Eastern Bay-
Choptank River to Cambridge MD and the Little Choptank River-
Patuxent River to Broomes Island MD-
Tangier Sound and the inland waters surrounding Bloodsworth
Island-District of Columbia-Southern Baltimore-Prince Georges-
Anne Arundel-Charles-St. Marys-Calvert-Southeast Harford-
Prince William/Manassas/Manassas Park-Fairfax-
Arlington/Falls Church/Alexandria-Stafford-Spotsylvania-
King George-
500 AM EDT Thu Sep 10 2020

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the Maryland portion of the
Chesapeake Bay, Tidal Potomac River, and adjacent counties in
central Maryland and northern Virginia as well as the District of
Columbia.

.DAY ONE...Today and Tonight

A Flash Flood Watch remains in effect for the outlook area through
8 PM this evening. Heavy rainfall from showers and thunderstorms
may lead to instances of flash flooding during this time.

An isolated waterspout cannot be ruled out over the waters this
morning.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Wednesday

No hazardous weather is expected at this time.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Please send any reports of flooding to the National Weather
Service.

MDZ003>006-501>507-VAZ025>031-036>040-050-051-501>508-WVZ050>053-
055-501>506-111000-
Washington-Frederick MD-Carroll-Northern Baltimore-
Extreme Western Allegany-Central and Eastern Allegany-
Northwest Montgomery-Central and Southeast Montgomery-
Northwest Howard-Central and Southeast Howard-Northwest Harford-
Augusta-Rockingham-Shenandoah-Frederick VA-Page-Warren-Clarke-
Nelson-Albemarle-Greene-Madison-Rappahannock-Orange-Culpeper-
Northern Fauquier-Southern Fauquier-Western Highland-
Eastern Highland-Western Loudoun-Eastern Loudoun-
Northern Virginia Blue Ridge-Central Virginia Blue Ridge-
Hampshire-Morgan-Berkeley-Jefferson-Hardy-Western Grant-
Eastern Grant-Western Mineral-Eastern Mineral-Western Pendleton-
Eastern Pendleton-
500 AM EDT Thu Sep 10 2020

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for eastern West Virginia,
northern and central Virginia, and central and western Maryland
with the exception of Garrett County.

.DAY ONE...Today and Tonight

A Flash Flood Watch remains in effect for eastern Montgomery and
eastern Howard Counties through 8 PM this evening. Elsewhere east
of the Blue Ridge and Catoctin Mountains, locally heavy rainfall
may lead to isolated instances of flooding.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Wednesday

No hazardous weather is expected at this time.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Please send any reports of flooding to the National Weather
Service.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Sep 10, 7:30 AM EDT, 5 hours 58 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC
730 AM EDT THU SEP 10 2020

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0706 AM     FLASH FLOOD      1 SE CLEMENTS           38.31N  76.71W
09/10/2020                   ST. MARYS          MD   911 CALL CENTER

            BAYSIDE ROAD WAS CLOSED DUE TO HIGH WATER.

&&

EVENT NUMBER LWX2002434

BJL
Local storm report, Sep 10, 7:42 AM EDT, 5 hours 46 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC
742 AM EDT THU SEP 10 2020

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0628 AM     FLASH FLOOD      CHAPTICO                38.37N  76.78W
09/10/2020                   ST. MARYS          MD   911 CALL CENTER

            BUDDS CREEK ROAD WAS CLOSED DUE TO HIGH WATER NEAR
            CHAPTICO.

&&

EVENT NUMBER LWX2002435

BJL
Local storm report, Sep 10, 7:45 AM EDT, 5 hours 43 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC
745 AM EDT THU SEP 10 2020

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0715 AM     FLASH FLOOD      1 SW CHAPTICO           38.35N  76.80W
09/10/2020                   ST. MARYS          MD   911 CALL CENTER

            MADDOX ROAD WAS CLOSED DUE TO HIGH WATER NEAR CHAPTICO.

&&

EVENT NUMBER LWX2002436

BJL
Local storm report, Sep 10, 9:27 AM EDT, 4 hours 1 minute before
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Local storm report, Sep 10, 11:22 AM EDT, 2 hours 6 minutes before
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Local storm report, Sep 10, 1:21 PM EDT, 7 minutes before
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The office that day

Everything else NWS Baltimore/Washington issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 10, 12:03 AM EDTAreal Flood WarningLWXFairfax3 hr
Sep 10, 2:09 AM EDTAreal Flood WarningLWXFairfax83 min
Sep 10, 4:05 AM EDTAreal Flood WarningLWXFauquier, Frederick, Warren4 hr
Sep 10, 7:40 AM EDTSpecial Marine WarningLWX37 min
Sep 10, 12:54 PM EDTAreal Flood WarningLWXClarke, Frederick2 hr
Sep 10, 4:14 PM EDTAreal Flood WarningLWXArlington, Fairfax, City of Alexandria9 hr
Sep 10, 4:18 PM EDTSpecial Marine WarningLWX54 min
Sep 10, 4:37 PM EDTSpecial Marine WarningLWX22 min
Sep 10, 4:35 AM EDTFlash Flood Warning Considerable damage threatLWXSaint Mary's4 hr
Sep 10, 6:33 AM EDTFlash Flood Warning Considerable damage threatLWXCharles2 hr
Sep 10, 8:21 AM EDTAreal Flood WarningLWXCharles, Saint Mary's7 hr
Sep 10, 8:35 AM EDTAreal Flood WarningLWXSaint Mary's8 hr
Sep 10, 12:41 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningLWXMontgomery4 hr
Sep 10, 2:01 PM EDTAreal Flood WarningLWXCharles3 hr
Sep 10, 2:34 PM EDTFlash Flood Warning Considerable damage threatLWXPrince George's2 hr
Sep 10, 3:47 PM EDTFlash Flood Warning Considerable damage threatLWXCharles, Saint Mary's3 hr
Sep 10, 4:33 PM EDTAreal Flood WarningLWXCalvert, Charles, Prince George's5 hr
Sep 10, 4:37 PM EDTAreal Flood WarningLWXPrince George's4 hr
Sep 10, 6:37 PM EDTAreal Flood WarningLWXCharles, Saint Mary's4 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Virginia, 2020Flash Flood Warnings in Maryland, 2020Every flash flood warning in 2020

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.