The National Weather Service won't be making a determination until sometime Thursday on whether the wind storm that struck northeast Baltimore early Wednesday was a tornado. Here's the statement issued this evening:
"THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS COMPLETED
AN INITIAL GROUND DAMAGE SURVEY FROM MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY TO
CARNEY IN THE BALTIMORE AREA. THIS AREA SUSTAINED DAMAGE DURING
THE EARLY MORNING HOURS OF WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 17.
"THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IS AWAITING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
AND IS CONTINUING ITS INVESTIGATION OF THE STORM DAMAGE. A FINAL
STORM SURVEY REPORT IS EXPECTED TO BE ISSUED ON THURSDAY."
Meteorologist Brandon Peloquin said the team that surveyed the damage Wednesday is waiting to review more photographs, and to match up the damage they saw to the radar signatures recorded as the storm passed through early Wednesday morning.
"They'll put everything together tomorrow, make a determination and send out a final [public information statement,] and give all the details," he said.
It was hard for a layman to determine on the ground Wednesday whether all the extensive damage we saw was caused by rotating or straight-line winds. But it was easy to see they must have been powerful winds. Some residential structures were completely de-roofed. Large trees were broken or knocked over. A large board was hurled through the air and pierced the roof of a house like an arrow. Parked cars had been lifted and moved into each other.
That's the kind of damage the Enhanced Fujita Scale looks for in EF-2 tornados, which pack winds of 111-135 mph. I have no idea whether this was a tornado, but based on the Fujita criteria, the winds must have been blowing that hard.
(SUN PHOTOS: Julie Scharper. Above: Cars moved by winds; Below: Homes de-roofed))