july 29th high end destructive wind event in the dc metro area

We are no strangers to severe weather in the mid atlantic. Its common for us to end our heatwaves with significant severe weather events in the form of damaging winds. However, this storm was different. With extremely unstable air due to temps well into the mid 90s and even some wind shear which isnt too common this time of year, we knew there would be significant severe weather somewhere in the region and a severe thunderstorm watch was issued in the early afternoon. 

Just before 3:30pm, scattered thunderstorms began to develop over west central MD and northern VA in a very unstable airmass. At this point, the storms were sub severe, but contained heavy rain and gusty winds. 

Just before 4pm, the storms rapidly intensified as they interacted with a highly unstable airmass with 3,000-4,000 j/kg of CAPE and some modest wind shear as well. The strongest storm was located over western Montgomery county at this point and was quickly moving towards the metro. Severe thunderstorm warnings were quickly issued and eventually upgraded to considerable with wind gusts over 70mph. Additional storms formed over northern MD, but they did not become severe due to weaker forcing in that area. 

At around 4:30pm the storms reached areas just to the NW of I-95 and continued to organize into a squall line producing widespread wind damage across Montgomery and Howard counties. At this point, severe thunderstorm warnings blanketed the I-95 corridor warning of wind gusts as high as 70mph. The storms continued to produce widespread wind damage. 

At approximately 4:50pm, the severe thunderstorms reached peak intensity right as they were in the heart of the DC metro area. At this point, they were producing wind gusts of 80-90mph and severe thunderstorm warnings were upgraded to destructive as NWS urged residents to shelter like a tornado was occurring. These storms were producing tremendous wind damage in downtown DC not just to trees, but also to structures with several buildings suffering roof and siding damage. Thousands of trees were also blown down. 

At 5:12pm, the worst of the wind had cleared downtown DC, but now put southern PG county under the gun as the 80mph winds became even more widespread. In PG county, there were so many downed trees on the BW parkway that it had to be closed for 4 days. Additional destructive tagged severe thunderstorm warnings blanketed south central MD into southern MD. An 84mph wind gust was recorded in downtown DC, which is the strongest wind measured since the 2012 derecho.

So what have we learned from this event?
1: When temps are in the mid 90s and a cold front is forecasted to come through, expect severe weather, potentially significant, somewhere. 
2: You do not need a tornado to produce major and life threatening wind damage and when a destructive tagged severe thunderstorm warning is issued, seek immediate shelter like you would for a tornado warning.