Tornadoes touched down in Columbia, Arbutus, Middle River and Eldersburg on Wednesday


The National Weather Service released a report Thursday night saying that four tornadoes touched down around Baltimore on Wednesday night, in Columbia, Arbutus, Middle River and Eldersburg.

The report also mentioned a tornado in Poolesville in Montgomery County, and one each in Berkeley County, West Virginia, and Leesburg, Virginia.

The strongest tornado in the Baltimore area touched down at 7:45 p.m. in Arbutus in southern Baltimore County, where wind speeds reached 105 mph in a path 175 yards wide and 2.4 miles long. The tornado ended after about seven minutes at 7:52 p.m. in Halethorpe.

The NWS surveyed the area Thursday afternoon and found a large oak tree snapped midway up the trunk and lying on two cars and a house. About 500 feet away, another large oak tree and its roots blocked Friendship Road.

The tornado “proceeded to lift and cycle” as it moved northeast to Halethorpe, where it touched down around 7:50 p.m. near where Washington Boulevard meets Interstate 695, the NWS said. Nearby, four heavy overhead doors were blown out of a warehouse and pieces of awning and roof ripped off buildings before the tornado lifted.

A tornado touched down in Middle River at 7:54 p.m. and reached wind speeds of 105 mph with a path 110 yards wide and 0.2 miles long, the NWS said. The tornado started in a neighborhood adjacent to Eastern Regional Park and ended after about two minutes at 7:56 p.m.

The NWS said multiple mobile homes were damaged while wind blew carports and a trampoline into the air. The height of circulation appeared to take place between Dahlia Lane and Roundup Road, where the windows of a double-wide trailer were blown out and a shed was tossed out of its foundation and landed 50 yards away.

The longest-lasting tornado for the Baltimore area touched down in Eldersburg at 7:59 p.m. and reached wind speeds of 85 mph with a path 100 yards wide and 4.4 miles long, according to the NWS. The tornado started 2 miles northwest of Eldersburg and ended after about 14 minutes at 8:13 p.m. near Gamber. The NWS said an uprooted tree fell on a house along Bartholow Road as the tornado moved over Morgan Run to the Lakeland Heights area.

The NWS estimates that a tornado touched down in Columbia at 8:31 p.m. and that wind speeds reached 95 mph in a path 75 yards wide and a mile long. The tornado ended after about two minutes at 8:33.

A survey team from the NWS was in the Long Reach Village of East Columbia on Wednesday evening and determined a town house development near the intersection of High Tor Hill and Tamar Drive “experienced concentrated tornadic damage.” Around two dozen trees were snapped or uprooted while a dozen cars were damaged by trees.

Rick Spinrad, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said last month that this year could be an “extraordinary” Atlantic hurricane season, which started June 1. NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, based in College Park, also is predicting good odds for above-normal temperature and precipitation this summer.

No injuries or deaths have been reported around Baltimore on Wednesday night, while five people were injured and taken to a hospital after a tree fell on a house in Montgomery County.

A tornado touched down in Poolesville at 7:14 p.m. and reached wind speeds of 105 mph in a path 125 yards wide and 12 miles long. The tornado lasted about 28 minutes and ended at 7:42 p.m. in Gaithersburg, where seven homes were condemned after being hit by falling trees. The five people who were injured were all in the same house, the NWS said.

A Gaithersburg resident told the weather service that the tornado warning hit their phone about three minutes before damage occurred near them, allowing time to shelter in the basement.

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