Could Hurricane Maria Strike Herndon?

HERNDON, VA — Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico as a devastating Category 5 hurricane Wednesday, and is expected to cause more problems in the Caribbean in the coming days. Could the D.C. area be in the crosshairs next? That's what some models are showing.

The National Hurricane Center predicts that Maria will veer to the north and head straight toward the East Coast of the United States. It will most likely weaken to a Category 1 or 2 hurricane by then, but could still be a very dangerous storm if it were to make landfall.

It's much too far out to say that it will, and it's looking hopeful that Tropical Storm Jose will spare us by dragging Maria out to sea. But several models suggests that it could make landfall not far from us, or even run right up the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River into D.C., as reported by the Washington Post.

It's important to remember that even if Maria doesn't strike the coast, she will generate dangerous surf and rip current conditions.

When was the last time we had tropical storm conditions in D.C.? You'd have to go back to 2003, when Hurricane Isabel made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane on the coast of North Carolina, with winds gusting at 105 miles per hour. Isabel caused huge amounts of flooding and tree damage in the D.C. area, resulting in hundreds of thousands of people losing power. It swamped Old Town Alexandria, forcing people to navigate through the waterfront by kayak.

The peak wind gust from Isabel in D.C. was 71 mph, or nearly hurricane-strength. The peak wind gust at Reagan National Airport was 58 mph, equivalent to strong tropical storm-force winds.

Image via NOAA