HELP OK TORNADO VICTIMS BY DRINKING ADULT BEVERAGES AT REDWOOD BETHESDA? IT'S TRUE!

Can the consumption of alcoholic beverages help your fellow man (and woman)?

The answer is, "Yes!" this week at Redwood on Bethesda Lane.

Through June 2, enjoy this special, limited-time Okies Hope cocktail at Redwood, and 75% of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross.

Pretend you're Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie, and take on this difficult task for the good of all (wo)mankind. It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.

This drink looks mighty good, I have to say.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY COOLING CENTERS - BETHESDA STORM UPDATE

For the many without power and AC:

3 cooling centers are open in Montgomery County:

Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville

Clarksburg High School in Clarksburg

White Oak Recreation Center in White Oak

*Bring any prescription medications you need with you*

RIVER ROAD DETOUR

Much traffic, including T2 Metrobuses is being diverted from a stretch of River Road just north of the Ridgefield Road-Little Falls Parkway commercial strip onto parallel Ridgefield Road.  Ridgefield Road is a 2  lane road through a residential neighborhood.  With speed bumps!  Slow going.  Avoid, avoid, avoid!

BETHESDA LIBRARY on Arlington Road is open to the public as a limited hours cooling center.  The county has not specified the hours.

MORE STORMS APPROACHING!

Monitor weather channels and @BethesdaRow on Twitter for the latest!

KILLER STORM ROCKS BETHESDA, MASSIVE POWER OUTAGES TEST PEPCO IMPROVEMENTS

A powerful thunderstorm system blasted Bethesda Friday night, knocking out power throughout town, and leaving a massive mess in its wake.

73% of residents had no power Friday night.  An urgent public health emergency looms today, with temperatures forecast as feeling like 115 degrees, and A/C-deprived Pepco customers being told power will be out for several days.

It is unclear at this hour just what locations in Bethesda do have power, in terms of what sites can be opened as cooling stations today.

Trees are down from Bethesda Row to the Potomac River.  Massive power outages were reported by residents in neighborhoods off of major highways like River Road and Old Georgetown Road.  One resident near Goldsboro Road reported hearing repeated blasts of a truck air horn over an hour-long period during the night.  I have no idea what that could have been, but would assume it was something serious to make that much noise at night.  If anyone knows what that was related to, let me know, and I'll pass that information on.

Pepco is now facing its first real test of its  2-year-long service improvements.  Bethesda residents reported that outage hotlines were down around 11 PM last night.  Today the area will find out if Pepco has the crews from outside DC to respond to one of the biggest outages in history.  If Pepco rises to the challenge, it could greatly improve public opinion of the utility.

Downtown Bethesda outages left late night partiers without post-nightclub eats.  Both Bold Bite and Jiffy Shoppes were forced to close.  Redwood's Bethesda Lane patio was lashed by hurricane force winds.

In fact, an 80 MPH wind shear was recorded in Bethesda at the height of the storm.  The freight train sounds I heard confirm that.  I was sure a tornado would spawn at any moment, but the damage suggests that circular wind patterns did occur.  Leaves carpet streets, and tree companies will be busy for weeks.  The full extent of the damage will be known once the sun rises this morning.

If you have difficulty reaching Pepco, try their Twitter at @PepcoConnect.

Monitor radio for announcements of cooling centers if you have no AC.

Be advised that more storms are expected today and Sunday.

Stay tuned for more details on one of the Top 5 most violent storms to hit Bethesda in the last 50 years.  Follow me on Twitter @BethesdaRow for more breaking weather news.

Stay cool, Bethesda!

WE'RE NOT IN

KANSAS ANYMORE

Weather Channel Ranks Maryland

#3 Tornado Risk State in US

Head for the basement, folks - Experts at The Weather Channel have conducted a study. Compiled a list. And when it comes to deadly tornadoes, they have just declared Maryland the third most dangerous state in America.

Who knew?

The Weather Channel's Greg Forbes said we're just behind Florida and Kansas, because of the atmospheric effects from the Appalachian mountains, Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean.

According to the study, Maryland has 9.9 tornadoes per every 10,000 square miles (pretty impressive, considering we don't even have 10,000 square miles in the state!).

First earthquakes, now tornadoes. Time to stock up on canned goods!

BETHESDA'S

LOCKHEED MARTIN

READIES

LIGHTNING MAPPER

THAT WILL REVOLUTIONIZE

WEATHER FORECASTING

Satellite Module will Provide More

Accurate Tornado Warnings

Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin is conducting final tests on a new addition to its long-deployed GOES weather satellite.

The Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) will record all cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning activity over the entire Americas.

In other words, the whole enchilada: every single lightning strike will be detected by this near-infrared device.

That in-cloud lightning activity is critical to giving as much as thirty minutes' warning of a tornado spawning. The complete scan will reveal an individual storm's "jump signature," a sudden acceleration of cloud-to-cloud lightning activity. This will also reduce false alarms.

Lockheed has scheduled final thermal and thermal vacuum testing for the coming months.

The Goddard Flight Center right here in Maryland helps manage development of GOES instruments.

Deployment of this advanced storm detection can't come a minute too soon, as unusual tornado activity continues to wreak havoc across the nation's southern and midwestern regions.