Central Maryland is under a severe thunderstorm watch until midnight. An earlier tornado watch has been canceled.
The main risks were expected to be damaging wind gusts, heavy downpours and frequent lightning. The storm watch includes Baltimore City and Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, Howard and Anne Arundel counties.
A line of storms was moving across the state Monday night. The National Weather Service reported a 59 mph wind gust near Frederick as a storm passed through about 6:30 p.m.
Fears of tornadoes around the region did not come to pass. A tornado watch had been set to last through 8 p.m. but was canceled half an hour early.
Earlier Monday, the Storm Prediction Center cautioned of "a couple tornadoes along with isolated damaging winds and marginal hail" in an area stretching across central and eastern Pennsylvania extending just south of the Mason-Dixon Line, including parts of Carroll, Baltimore and Harford counties.
Other areas forecasters were watching for heightened risks of severe weather stretched from Tennessee to West Virginia to western New York.
The storms are coming as a weak cold front moves southeastward from the Great Lakes, meeting moist, warm air.