2026 Mid-Atlantic Severe Storm General Discussion

[Rhino16]

6 hours ago, vortex95 said:

Key West spout 7/24
https://x.com/deZabedrosky/status/2081401272578531578

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About as classic "true" waterspout as you can get.  Thin tall tube, slow moving, no rain, LTG, or wall cloud present, just TCU.

Notice that after the base vortex moves over the dock, it re-emerges more intense and focused.  This happens sometimes for spouts when the first come ashore.  The rapid increase in friction can strengthen the base temporarily
.

That video isn’t from this year. I think it was actually on the Corrotoman River on July 4th, 2022.

[vortex95]

13 hours ago, Rhino16 said:

That video isn’t from this year. I think it was actually on the Corrotoman River on July 4th, 2022.

Thanks. I stand corrected!

[Eskimo Joe]

On 7/29/2026 at 10:42 AM, wxmeddler said:

Trees are the real killer to reliability. A major issue is that we're getting to the point in some of the older suburbs / planned communities that the trees planted at the time of housing construction are reaching the post-maturity age. They are going to fail/fall, and unless the landowner / HOA / town / county is on top of it (they are not), then you're gonna get outages with 30 mph gusts. 

After the 2012 derecho, PEPCO spent a lot to study the type and height of trees in their right of way. They determined it was best to plant smaller trees like birch and red buds, and even offered residents a chance to cut down bit trees and have them replaced with smaller ones at no cost. It was incredibly successful and I do not understand why that program was not maintained.

On 7/29/2026 at 10:37 AM, Kmlwx said:

Meanwhile all the PEPCO hate from the 2000s and 2010s has largely faded. Their tree trimming program and preventive maintenance has been absurd the past 10 years or so. 

An event like yesterday in the earlier 2000s could have easily have 250K+ customers without power in the region. 

Yup. My neighborhood was build between 1960 - 1970. Our big issue is that BGE doesn't do tree trimming within the right of way with any set method or schedule. In the ten years that we've lived here, we've only seen one routing tree trimming crew. Compare that to Adams Electrical Cooperative when we lived in PA, who were out every other year.