Photo by Ian Livingston

Pepco is preparing to tackle storms over the next two days that will be similar to last night’s havoc, which the utility company says knocked out power for about 16,000 customers. While Pepco is expecting wind gusts to reach 60 mph in parts of its service area, it doesn’t look like that’s the case in the District. However, we do have severe weather coming our way.

There’s an 80 percent chance of precipitation in D.C. this evening ranging from showers to thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds of 5 to 8 mph.

A high chance of showers and a possible thunderstorm are expected to return tomorrow with wind gust as high as 23 mph, according to NWS. The Capital Weather Gang expects the most impact to take place tomorrow between 3 and 8 p.m. with hail as possible threat, plus “we can’t rule out a tornado or two.”

Pepco has scheduled extra field and call center personnel to respond to possible power outages, according to a release. And if they need more than the 150 internal linemen, 250 contractors, and 180 tree-trimming personnel who are already assigned, they can get backup from other Exelon-run companies.