Surprise storm pummels Baltimore
With no more than a few minutes warning, a large thunderstorm popped up southwest of Baltimore shortly after 1 p.m. this afternoon. Heavy rains and hail the size of pennies and pingpong balls dropped on downtown streets and parking lots as the storm tracked north and east. Here's the radar loop.
The storm dropped temperatures at The Sun by 16 degrees - from 94 degrees to 78 degrees in less than 30 minutes.
The storm arrived just minutes after the National Weather Service issued a "severe storm warning" for Anne Arundel County at 1:25 p.m. That warning was later extended to include the city and Baltimore County.
Rain fell, briefly, at a rate of more than 7 inches an hour at The Sun. In 15 minutes, more than a third of an inch had passed through the rain gauge.
Readers? Let's hear from you. Leave a comment and describe what you're seeing out there.
Comments
I thought I had missed a blog or an alert when I went out for lunch- but the sky was dark and there were loud thunder claps! I made it back to my building just when the hail started- and it came!
Its nice the temperatures dropped so much- but will it last?
Posted by: Mather | July 10, 2007 3:27 PM
No, it won't last. It's already back to 87 degrees here at The Sun (at 4 p.m.). We should reach the 90s again tomorrow, and with more humidity thanks to this rain. The good news is that a REAL cold front is due late Wednesday or early Thursday, with more storms and, behind it, daytime highs in the 80s through the weekend.
Posted by: frank roylance | July 10, 2007 3:31 PM
If it rained for 15m at the rate of 7 inches per hour, wouldn't that be 1 3/4 inches of rain, not 1/3 of an inch???
Posted by: Larry Miller | July 10, 2007 3:36 PM
It's been quite a while since I've encountered a storm like that today's. What caught my attention fairly quickly was the huge number of cloud-to-ground lightning strikes in and around the BWI area.
Hail was brief, but large - quarter-sized from my vantage point in Linthicum. However, it was enough for me to stay put in my car for the duration.
According to WSFO Sterling, the core of the storm collapsed shortly after the hail fell - wondering if it reformed after moving to the northeast.
Apparently, the interaction with the bay breeze gave this cell a boost.
Posted by: David Rundle | July 10, 2007 3:53 PM
Larry: That rain rate was very brief. It did not rain that hard for 15 minutes. But the peak rate was recorded on our instruments. Total rainfall here for the storm was 0.46 inch. The airport saw almost 2 inches.
Posted by: frank roylance | July 10, 2007 3:57 PM
a lot of trees fell around wyman park in baltimore!! some cars were damaged...really bad!!
Posted by: carol | July 10, 2007 5:47 PM
I stepped outside with co-workers under a covered deck and it began raining so hard it felt like we were on the deck of a ship with a large wave overcoming us. I haven't seen rain that hard in quite some time.
Posted by: Bill Polyniak | July 10, 2007 7:22 PM
I was downtown, pretty sure a few lightning strikes on buildings I was standing next to. Also got pegged in the arm with one of the golf-ball sized hailstones. I had a red mark for a good hour afterwards.
Posted by: Larry G | July 10, 2007 10:48 PM