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Thunderstorm season in this area usually runs from April through August and brings with it the threat of other severe weather patterns like tornadoes, hail, lightning or flash flooding.
“Northern Virginia seems to be more prone to tornadoes than other places in the state,” Dr. Michaels said, adding “much speculation over the condition ranging from the Potomac River Canyon to the heat island effect of Washington itself has been given though” he finds he is “not satisfied with any explanation.”
Each year in Virginia, people are killed or injured or property damaged from thunderstorm activities or their byproduct — like flash flooding which occured in both Culpeper and Fauquier counties last spring. Lightning is a killer, too, having taken the lives of 53 people statewide since 1916, 100 people in the last 30 years and injures an estimated 250 annually. Tornadoes, like the one that killed two men in Augusta County or the one which swept through western Maryland this past week; and hail — its destructive pounding marring automobiles, homes and other property, are two other destructive partners.
Thunderstorms are such a threat that Virginia’s Governor L. Douglas Wilder proclaimed April’s last week as Severe Storm Awareness Week — hoping to educate the public on safety and precautions for lives and property.
Even though thunderstorms and their byproducts cannot be avoided or controlled, their threat becomes less-ominous when a few precautions are taken.
The Virginia Department of Emergency Services suggests finding shelter inside a sturdy building
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