Strong Winds Whip Through DC Region

WASHINGTON — Strong winds gusting up to 60 mph Monday morning brought thousands of power outages, damages and delays to the greater D.C. metro area.

The National Weather Service issued a fairly rare High Wind Warning for Maryland, Virginia and D.C. in effect until 6 p.m. Monday, as well as a Wind Advisory for surrounding areas until 3 p.m.

Fourteen thousand power outages were reported just before 7 a.m. Fairfax County was hit the hardest, with more than 7,000 residents without power.

As a result, Fairfax County Public Schools started on a two-hour delay.

Peak gusts had reached 65 mph at Reagan National and 73 mph at Joint Base Andrews by the early morning hours.

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POWER OUTAGES:

Heavy winds caused thousands of power outages early Monday. More than 14,000 were reported as of 7 a.m.

Fairfax County was hit the hardest, with more than 7,000 people without power. About 2,700 outages were reported in Arlington County. Loudoun and Albemarle counties had a little over 1,000 residents without power.

See the map of area power outages on WTOP’s weather page.

If you need the phone number for your power company, text the word POWER to 91035 and we’ll text it back to you.

CLOSINGS AND DELAYS:

Fairfax County schools start two hours late Monday as a result of power outages in the area.

Get the full list of closings and delays on WTOP.com.

WEATHER:

Two distinct storm systems combining into one off the coast of New England brought the WTOP listening area a very strong windstorm expected to last throughout Monday. The National Weather Service issued rare High Wind Warnings for most of the area.

Winds all day will be sustained in the range of 20 to 35 mph with some gusts as high as 40 to 60 mph. Northwest winds may still gust over 50 to 60 mph for the remainder of the daylight hours before diminishing Sunday evening. Because of all the wind, temperatures will stay in the 40s all of Monday, but with plenty of sunshine. Read more in Matt Ritter’s workweek weather blog.

Get the full forecast on the WTOP.com weather page.

TRAFFIC:

Drivers are urged to use caution while driving, due to downed power lines, fallen trees and debris.

Wind restrictions are in effect along the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on U.S. 50.

Get the latest traffic updates on the WTOP traffic page, by following @WTOPTraffic on Twitter and by listening to 103.5 FM on-air or online.

COMMUTING/TRAVEL:

Unrelated to the weather, but worth noting, Metro is shutting down the Blue Line until Feb. 28, cutting off connections between the Orange and Silver Lines at Rosslyn and the stations served by the Blue and Yellow lines from the Pentagon through Alexandria to Franconia-Springfield.

No flights are delayed as a result of the weather. Check flight statuses at Flightaware.

LISTEN LIVE:

Listen live on WTOP.com, on the WTOP app or tune in to 103.5 FM.

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