The Amazing Story Behind Herndon's Weather 'Bomb'

HERNDON, VA -- The sudden storm that ambushed Herndon on Monday night looked absolutely amazing on radar, resembling something like a weather bomb exploding in mid-air. And there's some fascinating science behind it.

The Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang posted a detailed breakdown of what happened in meteorological terms, which you can read here. Basically, two short-live thunderstorms sent out a nearly perfect circle of cool air outwards in all directions.

Meteorologists refer to this phenomena as an outflow boundary, and it happened when the Herndon storm flared up and then split in two.

"Both cells, which contained tall thunderheads pointing straight up into the sky, expelled cold air in all directions before collapsing," CWG wrote.

Like a bomb! Amazing outflow signature from two storm cells in Northern Va. Outflow not dangerous, just a breeze... pic.twitter.com/C2OlhcJUFN
— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) August 6, 2018

In addition to the radar "bomb," the storm cloud itself was truly impressive.

Enormous anvil on the storm over Reston as seen from Ballston pic.twitter.com/hMQDbMcwsK
— TerpWeather (@TerpWeather) August 6, 2018

(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)