A tight pressure gradient at the south of the Chesapeake Bay along with prolonged southerly winds and a full moon lead to higher tides in Arlington and Alexandria. Local authorities reported that water levels were rising quickly just after midnight on May 14th for high tide.
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The episode as NWS LWX wrote it up.
A tight pressure gradient at the south of the Chesapeake Bay along with prolonged southerly winds and a full moon lead to higher tides in Arlington and Alexandria. Local authorities reported that water levels were rising quickly just after midnight on May 14th for high tide. This caused flooding on King, Prince and Union Streets in Alexandria.
The local office's own words before the first event, 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 the first event at May 13, 8:19 PM EST, 5 hours 11 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC 919 PM EDT TUE MAY 13 2008 .SYNOPSIS... HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD OVER THE AREA TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY. A WEAK COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA THURSDAY. LOW PRESSURE WILL APPROACH THE AREA FRIDAY FROM THE SOUTHWEST. BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED NEXT WEEKEND. && .NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 AM WEDNESDAY MORNING/... CLEAR AND COOL OVERNIGHT AS RIDGE OF HIGH PRES SFC AND ALOFT DOMINATES. LIGHT SW FLOW WILL DEVELOP OVER THE HIGHLANDS OVERNIGHT. TEMPS LIKELY TO BOTTOM OUT THERE EARLY THEN BEGIN A SLOW INCREASE TOWARD DAYBREAK. FROST OUT THERE IF ANY SHOULD BE PATCHY AT BEST. LOWS IN THE LOWER 40S SUBURBS TO LOWER 50S IN CITY CENTERS. && .SHORT TERM /6 AM WEDNESDAY MORNING THROUGH 6 PM WEDNESDAY/... 500MB NORTHERN HEMISPHERIC HEIGHT/ANOMALY FOR THE PAST 5 DAYS INDICATES WEAK MEAN FLOW ACROSS THE CONUS...WITH A DEEPENING TROUGH OVER THE CENTRAL PACIFIC. WATER VAPOR LOOP SHOWS AN UPPER LOW PULLING FURTHER AWAY FROM THE WATERS OFF THE MID ATLANTIC. RIDGING IS BUILDING FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO NORTHWARD INTO THE GREAT LAKES...AHEAD OF THE NEXT SYSTEM DROPPING SOUTHEAST INTO THE FOUR CORNERS REGION. 13Z SURFACE MAP SHOWS A RIDGE OVER THE THE EASTERN CONUS...WITH RETURN FLOW FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT ACROSS THE PLAINS. ANTICIPATING AN INCREASE IN UPPER LEVEL CLOUDINESS AS THE MID LEVEL RIDGE TRANSLATES TO THE EAST COAST TOMORROW. THERMAL RIDGE AHEAD OF SLOWING FRONTAL BOUNDARY SHOULD ALLOW TEMPERATURES TO RISE THROUGH THE 70S. && .LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY/... 12Z GFS HAS COME IN WITH A FURTHER NORTH TRACK OF THE SURFACE CYCLONE LATE THIS WORK WEEK...WHICH GREATLY IMPACTS QPF/STABILITY FORECAST. PER COLLABORATION WITH HPC...WILL FAVOR FLATTER EUROPEAN/UKMET/CANADIAN/09Z SREF SOLUTION. THIS GIVES THE POSSIBILITY OF ANOTHER 0.5-1.0 OF QPF AND COOLER TEMPERATURES DURING THE LATER PORTION OF THE WORK WEEK. WITH 12HR FLOOD GUIDANCE AROUND AN INCH...WILL HAVE TO KEEP A CLOSE EYE FOR POTENTIAL FLOODING. RELATIVE MEASURE OF PREDICTABILITY FROM THE 00Z GFS INDICATES THE UPPER LOW/TROUGH FEATURE IN THE EXTENDED HAS A RELATIVELY HIGH PROBABILITY OF VERIFYING (50%). HOWEVER...JUST AS IMPORTANT WILL BE THE EMBEDDED WAVES ROTATING AROUND THE UPPER LOW...WHICH AT THIS POINT IS NOT HIGHLY PREDICTABLE. HAVE THEREFORE TEMPERED MENTION OF PRECIPITATION WITH UNCERTAIN TIMING AT THIS TIME. TEMPERATURES SHOULD BE BELOW NORMAL GIVEN THE LONG WAVE PATTERN. && .AVIATION /01Z WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/... EVEN WITH RADIATIONAL COOLING...AIR LOOKS TOO DRY FOR FOG OVERNIGHT. THEREFORE...EXPECT VFR CONDITIONS WITH HIGH PRESSURE OVERHEAD OVERNIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY. VFR CONDITIONS EXPECTED MIDWEEK. NEXT AREA OF LOW PRESSURE APPROACHES FROM THE SOUTHWEST THURSDAY NIGHT. EXPECT MVFR/IFR CEILINGS AND VISIBILITIES WITHIN RAIN UNTIL PRECIPITATION PASSES TO THE EAST LATE FRIDAY. && .MARINE... NORTHERLY SURGE WAS WORKING DOWN THE BAY THIS AFTERNOON. SCA SPEEDS HAD ADVANCE SOUTH OF SMITH POINT...THEREFORE AM ALLOWING SCA TO EXPIRE THIS AFTERNOON. SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY CONDITIONS POSSIBLE AS AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE MOVES THROUGH LATE DURING THE WORK WEEK. && .HYDROLOGY...FLOODING ALONG THE POTOMAC RIVER IS EXPECTED TO END IN THE NEXT FEW HRS. NEW FLS WILL BE ISSUED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. && .TIDES/COASTAL FLOODING... POSITIVE WATER LEVEL ANOMALIES REMAIN ACROSS THE MIDDLE AND LOWER CHESAPEAKE BAY THIS AFTERNOON...LOCKED IN BY THE TIGHT PRESSURE GRADIENT NEAR THE MOUTH OF THE BAY. WITH THE LUNAR CYCLE GOING TO A FULL MOON...AND EVENTUAL SOUTHEASTERLY FLOW LATER THIS WEEK AHEAD OF THE NEXT SYSTEM...EXPECT WATER LEVEL ANOMALIES SUPPORTIVE OF COASTAL FLOODING TO RETURN TO THE REGION. && .LWX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... DC...NONE. MD...NONE. VA...NONE. WV...NONE. MARINE...NONE. && UPDATE...ROSA PRODUCTS...PELOQUIN/ROGOWSKI
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC 946 PM EDT TUE MAY 13 2008 ANZ530>537-DCZ001-MDZ006-007-011-013-014-016>018-VAZ052>057- 141000- 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- DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA-NORTHERN BALTIMORE-HARFORD- SOUTHERN BALTIMORE-PRINCE GEORGES-ANNE ARUNDEL-CHARLES-ST. MARYS- CALVERT-PRINCE WILLIAM/MANASSAS/MANASSAS PARK-FAIRFAX- ARLINGTON/FALLS CHURCH/ALEXANDRIA-STAFFORD-SPOTSYLVANIA- KING GEORGE- 946 PM EDT TUE MAY 13 2008 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...TONIGHT MINOR FLOODING ALONG THE POTOMAC RIVER IS EXPECTED TO END OVERNIGHT. PLEASE REFER TO FLOOD STATEMENTS FOR MORE DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY MINOR COASTAL FLOODING COULD RETURN TO THE REGION DURING THE MIDWEEK AHEAD OF THE NEXT STORM SYSTEM APPROACHING FROM THE MIDWEST. INTERESTS ALONG THE TIDAL POTOMAC RIVER AND WESTERN SHORE OF THE MARYLAND CHESAPEAKE BAY SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS FOR POTENTIAL ADVISORIES. THE NEXT STORM SYSTEM APPROACHING THE REGION FOR THE LATE WORK WEEK IS FORECAST TO BRING ANOTHER HALF INCH TO INCH OF RAIN TO THE AREA. THIS COULD CAUSE ADDITIONAL FLOODING ALONG SMALL STREAMS AND URBAN AREAS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TONIGHT. MDZ003>005-009-010-501-502-VAZ021-025>031-036>042-050-051- WVZ050>055-501>504-141000- WASHINGTON-FREDERICK MD-CARROLL-MONTGOMERY-HOWARD- EXTREME WESTERN ALLEGANY-CENTRAL AND EASTERN ALLEGANY-HIGHLAND- AUGUSTA-ROCKINGHAM-SHENANDOAH-FREDERICK VA-PAGE-WARREN-CLARKE- NELSON-ALBEMARLE-GREENE-MADISON-RAPPAHANNOCK-FAUQUIER-LOUDOUN- ORANGE-CULPEPER-HAMPSHIRE-MORGAN-BERKELEY-JEFFERSON-PENDLETON- HARDY-WESTERN GRANT-EASTERN GRANT-WESTERN MINERAL-EASTERN MINERAL- 946 PM EDT TUE MAY 13 2008 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...TONIGHT MINOR FLOODING ALONG THE POTOMAC RIVER IS EXPECTED TO END OVERNIGHT. PLEASE REFER TO FLOOD STATEMENTS FOR MORE DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY. THE NEXT STORM SYSTEM APPROACHING THE REGION FOR THE LATE WORK WEEK IS FORECAST TO BRING ANOTHER HALF INCH TO INCH OF RAIN TO THE AREA. THIS COULD CAUSE ADDITIONAL FLOODING ALONG SMALL STREAMS AND URBAN AREAS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TONIGHT.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 coastal flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Water levels rose quickly from the Tidal Potomac River, causing flooding on King, Prince and Union Streets in Old Town Alexandria.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Virginia in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Virginia, May 2008
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 99069.