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![Rich Foot, founder of Foot's Forecast. [File 2012]](http://www.rssing.com/inc2/img/tinyinf.webp "Rich Foot, founder of Foot's Forecast. [File 2012]")
Severe storms predicted for Thursday could bring tornadoes and damaging winds with related damage rivaling the derecho of last summer.
"If the derecho was a 10, this event is going to be a nine," said Rich Foot, a Dundalk resident and founder of Foot's Forecast.
"The potential for damage and the timing really compare to the derecho event or the June storm of last year," Foot said.
The National Weather Service on Wednesday issued a hazardous weather outlook for much of the state for the next two days.
The forecast for Wednesday calls for a possibility of strong storms capable of producing damaging winds and hail. Flash flooding is also a possibility.
On Thursday, the government agency is calling for a potential significant severe weather event. Storms associated with the event could be capable of producing wind gusts of up to 50 mph, large hail and possibly tornadoes.
"For the National Weather Service to say there is a 15 percent risk of tornadoes for this area 24 hours out—that's extremely high this far out there in terms of time," Foot said. "In the meteorology business, that's death and destruction."
Foot cautioned that "we've seen these [warnings] fail before" but said area residents should still prepare and be aware of the potential for severe weather conditions.
"Recent heavy rains, low level instability and upper level wind flow, combined with high sun angle may easily produce very large supercell-like thunderstorms, or even multi-cell complexes across Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and southern Pennsylvania. The period of highest impact could be between 12 Noon and 5 PM, but could start earlier or extend into the evening," according to a statement about Thursday's storm that was posted on Foot's Mid-Atlantic Severe Weather forecast Facebook page.
Foot said he thinks the area "is going to be nailed. Hopefully I just jinxed it."
Updates on the conditions in the county and its response to the predicted storms can be found on the county's emergency management Twitter account and on Facebook.
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