A weekend of exceptional heat and record-challenging temperatures ended with a bang in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, where a slew of strong to severe thunderstorms knocked out power to thousands and disrupted travel along the Interstate 95 corridor.
Nearly 500 reports of severe weather were received by the National Weather Service over the weekend as a strong cold front spelled an end to the heat.
The strength of the cold front became apparent late in the workweek when Denver hit 87 degrees Thursday, only to be buried beneath snow late Friday. The same front spawned an EF3 tornado in Gaylord, Mich., on Friday, the state’s strongest tornado since 2012.
As the cold front swept east over the weekend, it first triggered intense storms from eastern Texas to western Maine on Saturday; severe thunderstorm watches spanned almost continuously between those states. Violent storms even expanded north into eastern Canada, where a derecho — or fast-moving line of intense storms — cut power to more than 1 million people and killed at least seven.
On Sunday, intense storms were focused from eastern Alabama to southern Maine, with the most damage reports concentrated in the Mid-Atlantic.
Nearly 40,000 customers were in the dark Sunday evening in Virginia, according to PowerOutage.US, the result of strong winds accompanying clusters and lines of thunderstorms that blew through the area. Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Va., across the river from Washington, D.C., saw gusts up to 59 mph as the storms rolled through after hitting 89 degrees during the afternoon. Dulles Airport, west of the nation’s capital in Loudoun County, Va., saw a 59 mph gust too.
Where strong storms developed
Washington had the misfortune of dealing with multiple severe thunderstorms Sunday — first just before 6 p.m., when a lone thunderstorm cell brought strong winds to the District, and again around 7 p.m., when a squall line blasted through the D.C. to Baltimore stretch.
Storms were most concentrated there and in New England, with a relative gap in coverage over eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and the New York City Tri-State area.
The same storms dropped golf ball-sized hail on Livermore in Franklin County, Maine, and partially ripped the roof off Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School in Northampton, Mass. Numerous reports of downed trees and wires originated from southern New England, including the Boston metro area.
Severe thunderstorms rolling through Massachusetts tonight - this is the damage in Northampton. Part of the roof of Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School was blown off and the new pavilion behind Miss Florence Diner was structurally damaged. (via @NorthamptonFR) pic.twitter.com/6SmnoQlXhE
— Mike Saccone (@mikesacconetv) May 23, 2022
Two-inch-diameter hail fell in Geauga County, Ohio, just east of Cleveland, with similarly sized stones pelting Coos County, N.H. A 71-mph gust occurred in Bartholomew County, Indiana.
Heat sizzles in East, Southeast
One more day of early-season #heat and record high temperatures are likely across the Northeastern U.S. Heat #advisories remain in effect from Boston to Philadelphia and records highs could be broken from Boston to the Washington D.C. metro area. pic.twitter.com/f8pYjOF5Ra
— National Weather Service (@NWS) May 22, 2022
The nationwide pattern featured a classic recipe for toasty temperatures — a ridge of high pressure, known as a “heat dome,” was parked over southeast Canada and the Northeast, but its southwestern flank trailed all the way to the Gulf Coast. That diverted the jet stream into the northern tier and southern Canada.
Behind the high was an approaching zone of low pressure surfing within a dip in the jet stream. Counterclockwise flow about the low brought southerly winds ahead of it, reinforcing the warmth surging up the East Coast.
Washington, D.C., hit 92 degrees on Saturday and 89 on Sunday — not quite record territory, but still a dozen or so degrees above the mid- to late May average high of 78 degrees.
Amazing temperature contrast across the Lower 48 and southern Canada this Saturday afternoon, May 21 2022. Near record heat across the east with cold temperatures and snow across portions of the Plains and the Rockies. pic.twitter.com/GGuuXGNsY5
— National Weather Service (@NWS) May 21, 2022
Boston is usually closer to about 68 degrees this time of year but managed to nick 89 degrees Sunday. A coastal sea breeze kept the city capped at 71 degrees Saturday, while Worcester, about an hour’s drive westward on the Massachusetts Turnpike, snagged an 88-degree high.
New York City jumped to 90 degrees Saturday and 89 on Sunday, and Philadelphia reached the mid 90s — 95 degrees Saturday and 91 on Sunday. Saturday’s reading tied a record set in 1934.
Farther south, the heat arrived earlier and was slightly more intense than in the Northeast. Raleigh set a record Friday with a high of 96, edging a 94-degree mark logged in 1938. A number of other readings in the mid- to upper 90s peppered weather maps across the South and Southeast.
Despite the anomalous heat, temperatures ran about 2 to 5 degrees below what was initially predicted for a wide swath of the eastern U.S., missing out on records that had been assumed to be in jeopardy.
Jason Samenow contributed to this report.
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Exceptional heat in Northeast, Mid-Atlantic ends with severe storms - The Washington Post
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