Photo by Shawn Adams

Photo by Shawn Adams

Look out your window, D.C. Yeah, there’s some pretty nasty storms hitting the area right now. And already they’ve caused damage.

Apparently, lightning struck an air traffic control tower at Baltimore-Washington International Airport causing the Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily suspend all airline flight operations for about an hour.

However, it looks like the airport is back open for business already, save for two runways.

As for these bad storms? Looks like things should be clearing up soon.

From the National Weather Service:

NWS has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for D.C., effective until 5PM EDT. One severe thunderstorm has been detected near Potomac, and another one has been detected near Fairfax City. Those storms are forecast to combine and move over the District as they move east at appx 10 mph. When they combine, they may be capable of producing damaging winds in excess of 60MPH.

Citizens should head indoors if possible, and avoid driving if possible. If you must drive, be extremely alert for high winds, driving rain, or standing water.

But not before some local residents lose power. Nearly 19,000 Pepco customers in Montgomery County are without power, according to the outage map. Expect that number to rise before this storm moves through.

Filed Under: BWI, lightning, storms, weather,