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Weather

Tornado crossed St. Mary's on Thursday, weather service confirms

By Scott Dance and The Baltimore Sun
Baltimore Sun
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The only clues that this is the first day of winter are the lack of leaves on the trees and the inst

The only clues that this is the first day of winter are the lack of leaves on the trees and the installation of holiday evergreens above Joseph Young and Amanda McCormick of Baltimore, who enjoy the Winter Solstice with an unofficial temperature in the 70s at Mount Vernon Place. (Karl Merton Ferron, Baltimore Sun)

The National Weather Service said a tornado crossed much of southern St. Mary's County during Thursday afternoon storms -- the second twister confirmed in the state that day and the second in four days for St. Mary's.

A tornado classified as an EF-0 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, with 75 mph winds, traveled nearly 14 miles from the Oakley area to California and the Patuxent River from 3:24 p.m. to 3:42 p.m. Thursday. Weather service officials came to that conclusion after surveying damage and with help from radar at both Andrews Air Force Base and the weather service's Baltimore/Washington forecast office in Sterling, Va.

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A public information statement from the weather service reads:

"DAMAGE WAS INTERMITTENT ALONG THE PATH AND WAS CONFINED TO TREE DAMAGE AND DAMAGE RESULTING FROM DOWNED TREES. NUMEROUS LARGE TREES WERE UPROOTED AND SOME TREES WERE TOPPED. MANY WERE NOTED IN THE VICINITY OF OAKLEY ROAD AND HODGES ROAD...BETWEEN OLD ROLLING ROAD AND JOAN DRIVE AND BETWEEN SHADY MILE DRIVE AND TOWN CREEK ROAD.

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The tornado occurred just about 2 miles from another twister confirmed in storms Monday along Coltons Point, on the Potomac River. That tornado lifted a trampoline from a backyard and lodged it 90 feet high in a pine tree. It was estimated to have winds of up to 65 mph, possibly forming from a waterspout that crossed the Potomac River about 9 p.m.

Tornadoes were also confirmed Monday in the Fork area of Baltimore County and in Locust Point.

The Thursday St. Mary's tornado also came in addition to one that traversed 17 miles of Montgomery County that afternoon. It damaged an ice rink and numerous homes as it felled trees across the county.

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