A container ship ran into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore early in the morning, causing it to collapse into the river, along with several vehicles on the bridge. Accuweather meteorologists break down how the weather can play a role in the rescue effort.

Inner Harbor

A container ship collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, leading to a significant portion of the bridge collapsing into the river. The incident also resulted in several vehicles that were on the bridge at the time of the collision falling into the water. Accuweather meteorologists are analyzing the potential impact of weather conditions on the ongoing rescue operations.

The experts at Accuweather are examining how various weather elements could either aid or hinder the efforts to rescue any individuals potentially trapped in the vehicles or in the water. The specifics of how weather factors like wind, visibility, and water currents could affect the rescue operations are central to their analysis. This information will likely provide critical insights for the teams working on the rescue operations.



How weather is impacting Baltimore Bridge rescue workers

A container ship rammed into a major bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday causing it to snap and plunge into the river below. Several vehicles fell into the chilly waters and rescuers searched for survivors. It was also not clear what caused the cargo ship to crash into the Francis Scott Key Bridge long before the busy morning commute. Two people were rescued and it was not clear how many more might be in the water after the collapse. The vessel appears to have hit one of the supports of the Francis Scott Key Bridge causing the roadway to break apart in several places and then plunge into the water. The 1.6-mile, four-lane bridge extends over the Patapsco River and serves as the outermost crossing of the Baltimore Harbor and an essential link of Interstate 695. Joining us right now is AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist John Porter. And John, we have a lot to talk about in terms of this story, but in terms of the weather, there are some very small silver linings here. That's right. Good morning. A very tragic story that we're following this morning. As far as the weather and environmental aspects are concerned, the water temperature, that's a chilly 45 or 46, 47 degrees at this point in time. But noticed on that video, there's very light winds in that area right now. And so the light winds are going to be helpful to the rescue operations and the fact that it's mainly clear there, just a few clouds, not dealing with any rain or snow issues there this morning. You know, John, let's go over. There's some positives and then there's some, let's say, challenges here. Let's first talk about the fact that it is relatively tranquil there this morning. Right. Temperature 43 degrees and as mentioned, good visibility. So that will be helpful to the rescue, ongoing rescue operations. Also, John, the winds, as we mentioned, relatively light right now. There's some gusty winds offshore out of the east northeast, but Baltimore is kind of tucked in between that offshore storm and the front back across the Midwest. Yeah, that's right. You could see the tighter packing of the winds off the coast. So the winds are busier there, but in the Baltimore area, generally five or eight miles per hour sustained out of the east with gusts to about 10 or 11. That's going to be helpful too, because that's going to limit the chop. You remember a couple of years ago with the miracle on the Hudson in New York City, one of the aspects that was helpful to the rescue operations there was that there was very limited wind. So just a little bit of chop on the live cam there. Now we are looking at the Baltimore Harbor right now. This the image of the rubble. You can see the bridge there collapsed in the water. You can see the ship just to the left of the center of your screen. And John, something we were just touching on is the water temperature so vital for rescuers right now, the folks who have to go into the water and the people who are searching around the debris. That's right. Those temperatures, those water temperatures about 46, 47 degrees last check in Baltimore. And so you need the proper equipment there, obviously, because hypothermia can set in 30 or 45 minutes or even sooner with that type of chilly water. So that's a major factor involved here this morning as well.

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