President Donald Trump’s highly anticipated UFC bout taking place on his 80th birthday at the White House is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. on Sunday—but the possibility of volatile weather in the Washington, D.C., area, including potential thunderstorms, high winds, hail, and also the chance for swarms of insects, could put a damper on the festivities tonight.
Washington, D.C., faces the potential for thunderstorms, strong winds and hail during the mixed martial arts fight on the White House lawn.
D.C. could see scattered thunderstorms with “damaging wind gusts or large hail,” the National Weather Service said in a forecast for the region on Sunday, with wind speeds reaching as high as 60-70 mph.
In an update shortly before 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, forecasters at the NWS predicted two rounds of thunderstorms could reach D.C. between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m.—lining up closely with the hours of the White House event.
The Northeast is also experiencing a multi-day heat wave, and the temperature in the capital could reach highs of 95 degrees Fahrenheit (the temperature in D.C. was 91 degrees around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon).
