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Enormous boom heard over D.C. area was almost certainly from lightning in Northern Virginia
I'm in Alexandria, which is pretty far away. I didn't notice anything remarkable. The skies briefly got dark during the morning.
I'm pretty sure that this foretells the return of Trump.
Arlington Now Retweeted
Fairfax County residents report loud boom, possibly caused by lightning
Link to tweet
Crazy...a building was struck by the lightning detected between Reston and Dulles heard all over the DC area, two minor injuries. Related story: https://wapo.st/3zQqNDI
I heard it from over 40miles away
Link to tweet
Capital Weather Gang
By Jason Samenow
Today at 12:25 p.m. EDT
A prolonged, thunderous boom sounded all over the Washington region around 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, jarring residents unsure of its source. But, in all likelihood, it was caused by a lightning strike in the vicinity of Reston and Dulles.
Fairfax County Fire and Rescue tweeted a building was struck on Woodland Park Road, about midday between Reston and Dulles International Airport. It reported two minor injuries but no damage.
A fast-moving line of showers was developing over the region at the time, and radar detected a lightning strike in that area. Chris Vagasky, a lightning expert at Vaisala, a company that operates a national lightning detection network, tweeted to us that it sensed “a very large +CG [positive cloud to ground] stroke near Dulles” just before 10:45 a.m.
Vagasky later tweeted that an average lightning bolt produces 30,000 amps of current. “This was estimated to be 442,000 Amps,” he wrote.
{snip}
It is unusual for such a localized lightning strike to induce thunder that resonates over such distances. On our Twitter feed, we received reports of the probable thunder clap as far away as the District and College Park, Md.
{snip}
However, just the right atmospheric conditions were in place for the clap to travel far. The weather balloon launched at Dulles Airport at 8 a.m. Tuesday showed the presence of a very strong low-level inversion, or a layer where the temperature was warming with altitude, acting like a lid. “That reflects sound back towards ground and allows it to propagate long distances,” noted Capital Weather Gang’s Matthew Cappucci, in a tweet.
{snip}
By Jason Samenow
Jason Samenow is The Washington Post’s weather editor and Capital Weather Gang's chief meteorologist. He earned a master's degree in atmospheric science and spent 10 years as a climate change science analyst for the U.S. government. He holds the Digital Seal of Approval from the National Weather Association. Twitter https://twitter.com/capitalweather
By Jason Samenow
Today at 12:25 p.m. EDT
A prolonged, thunderous boom sounded all over the Washington region around 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, jarring residents unsure of its source. But, in all likelihood, it was caused by a lightning strike in the vicinity of Reston and Dulles.
Fairfax County Fire and Rescue tweeted a building was struck on Woodland Park Road, about midday between Reston and Dulles International Airport. It reported two minor injuries but no damage.
A fast-moving line of showers was developing over the region at the time, and radar detected a lightning strike in that area. Chris Vagasky, a lightning expert at Vaisala, a company that operates a national lightning detection network, tweeted to us that it sensed “a very large +CG [positive cloud to ground] stroke near Dulles” just before 10:45 a.m.
Vagasky later tweeted that an average lightning bolt produces 30,000 amps of current. “This was estimated to be 442,000 Amps,” he wrote.
Link to tweet
{snip}
It is unusual for such a localized lightning strike to induce thunder that resonates over such distances. On our Twitter feed, we received reports of the probable thunder clap as far away as the District and College Park, Md.
Link to tweet
{snip}
However, just the right atmospheric conditions were in place for the clap to travel far. The weather balloon launched at Dulles Airport at 8 a.m. Tuesday showed the presence of a very strong low-level inversion, or a layer where the temperature was warming with altitude, acting like a lid. “That reflects sound back towards ground and allows it to propagate long distances,” noted Capital Weather Gang’s Matthew Cappucci, in a tweet.
{snip}
By Jason Samenow
Jason Samenow is The Washington Post’s weather editor and Capital Weather Gang's chief meteorologist. He earned a master's degree in atmospheric science and spent 10 years as a climate change science analyst for the U.S. government. He holds the Digital Seal of Approval from the National Weather Association. Twitter https://twitter.com/capitalweather
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