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lightning “because lightning bolts are so hot,” Dr. Michaels said.
With surface temperature, atmospheric conditions and moisture in the air exactly right, a thunderstorm can strike, causing winds from 10 to 100 miles per hour.
“Ten to 20 mile per hour winds are common,” Dr. Michaels explained, adding straight-line winds like those associated with thunderstorms in Northern Virginia last year of 100 miles per hour are less common. “They were not tornado winds but straight-line winds,” he added, saying straight-line winds over wet ground and old trees can cause great damage.
He explained that was one of the worst threats with last year’s Hurricane Hugo — if the storm had taken the projected track up the Interstate 95 corridor hitting both Richmond and Washington, D.C., the wet ground, old trees, and high winds could have caused severe damage.
Though thunderstorms are associated with tornados, Dr. Michaels said in this “region of the Blue Ridge, the conditions are not favorable for development or maintenance of; as thunderstorm air flows over the mountain it comes down, tending to weaken the storm itself as thunderstorm conditions flow up.” He estimated that in this area, one in 5,000 thunderstorms hold tornado potential.
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