64 MPH Wind Gusts Reported In Montgomery Co. During March Storm

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — The National Weather Service has released a detailed report on the intense, damaging wind storm that struck our region March 2, and it is filled with interesting tidbits about the historic storm -- including that the Montgomery area saw one of the strongest wind gusts in the D.C. region.

Aspen Hill recorded 64 mph wind gusts, while Germantown saw 62 mph gusts, equivalent to a strong tropical storm bordering on a hurricane. And nearby Reagan Airport reported a staggering eight straight hours of wind gusts at or above 58 miles per hour.

The strongest wind gust in the entire region -- 78 miles per hour -- was recorded in the tiny town of Etlan just west of Culpeper.

"A low pressure system moving eastward from the central United States on Thursday March 1st intensified rapidly as it moved offshore Thursday night and early Friday, deepening to 974 mb by the evening of Friday March 2nd," the report states. "Note the cold frontal passage in the late night and early morning hours of the 2nd, which marked the beginning of the high wind event."

Pressure plunged to as low as 850 millibars, which set the D.C. area up for one of the most intense wind events in years.

"Thousands of accounts of wind damage were reported to either local or state law enforcement or to the National Weather Service, with damage ranging from tree and power line damage to roof and siding damage," the report states.

You can relive the chaos of that day at our live feed here.

Huge sections of the D.C. area lost power during the storm. As many as 600,000 customers were without power in the region. Dominion Energy in Virginia reported 192,000 customers without power, the majority in Fairfax County. Roads were blocked with dozens of reports of downed trees, as well as traffic signal outages.

Image: Map of maximum gusts posted by National Weather Service