Severe Weather in the DC Metro Area

Although more common in May and June, DC Area residents have experienced severe weather in April on a number of occasions in recent years.  Several severe weather outbreaks stand out.

2018: A major severe weather outbreak last April 15 generated over 200 severe reports (including wind gusts of at least 58 mph, 1”/+ diameter hail and tornadoes).  The Nation’s Capital had a two-day rainfall total of 2.01” on April 15-16.  That produced a considerable amount of street flooding and showed a thunderstorm doesn’t have to be “severe” to be high impact.

2017: Washingtonians saw two EF-0 tornadoes within DC city limits on April 6.  Tornadoes within the District of Columbia are exceptionally rare and these were the first since September 2001.  Fortunately, they were relatively weak with winds of only 70-75 mph and caused only minor damage.  

2013: An outbreak of severe weather occurred on April 19.  Among dozens of severe wind gusts in Maryland and Virginia, an EF-0 tornado touched down in Largo, Maryland with winds of 85 mph.  An EF-1 tornado also touched down in Fredericksburg, Virginia.  It had sustained winds of 90 mph.  Minor damage occurred in both tornadoes but, fortunately, there were no fatalities.  

2011: This April was one of the most active severe weather months on record in the United States.  The severe weather on April 16 was concentrated from Pennsylvania to South Carolina, where a total of 139 tornadoes developed among an overall total of 421 severe weather reports.

By comparison, the April 4 outbreak was even larger with nearly 1,500 severe weather reports from Texas to Pennsylvania, including 68 tornadoes.  Two of those tornadoes occurred in Maryland, with one each in Charles and Prince George’s Counties.  Tornado intensity is ranked on the “Enhanced Fujita Scale.”  A minimal EF-0 tornado has wind speeds of 65 to 85 mph, while an EF-5 tornado has wind speeds of greater than 200 mph.

2008: On April 20, the DC Metro Area saw several tornadoes with a total of 12 in Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina.  The two closest to the Nation’s Capital occurred in Middletown, Virginia, and one that tracked from Charles to Prince George’s County in Maryland.  Fortunately, there were no fatalities, but DC had 1.4” of rain that helped make that April DC’s wettest (4.92”) since April 2000 (5.13”).

2002:  Longtime residents may recall that the 17^th anniversary of Maryland’s strongest tornado on record is approaching.  The town of La Plata in Charles County was devastated by an EF-5 tornado on April 28, 2002.  At the time, it was ranked an F4 tornado, but its winds of 260 mph would make it an EF-5 on the “Enhanced Fujita Scale” that replaced the Fujita Scale in 2007.