Observations Powerful thunderstorms swept through the mid-Atlantic states on April 28, spawning an F4 intensity tornado that ripped through La Plata, Maryland, destroying much of its historic downtown and claiming at least three lives. National Weather Service The pictures below show damage to a swath of trees along the shoreline. All NOAA. The tornado moved offshore at approximately 7:45 pm. Land Meteorologists classify tornadoes using the Enhanced Fujita Scale. According to the Tornado History Project and NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, there have been four tornadoes in the Vegas Valley from 1964-2012. The path width at this location narrowed to about 400 yards. Tornadoes. Life, Image of the Day Those have been classified as EF1 tornadoes… Tornado Information for Maryland. Hail up to softball size (4.5 inch diameter) was reported with the storm near La Plata. The ALI is designed to improve upon and extend the measurement heritage begun by the Landsat series of satellites well into the 21st Century. The strongest tornado is … The most powerful tornado recorded in Maryland occured on April 29, 2002, in Calvert and Charles counties. The tornado originated from a supercell thunderstorm that developed in central West Virginia and moved east across the Appalachian Mountains. Email Staff Pronósticos, Education/Outreach The tornado’s path can be seen clearly in this pan-sharpened color image acquired on May 1 by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI), flying aboard NASA’s EO-1 satellite. Land Maryland averages 5 tornados per year, resulting in an average of 0 fatalities. Unless otherwise noted, the source of the F5 rating is the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS), as shown in the archives of the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) and National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). A second house (in the background) also was flattened. For the state specific records of multi-state tornadoes, the exit or lift-off point from the state in decimal degrees. La Plata Tornado - April 28, 2002 April 28, 2012, is the anniversary of one of the strongest tornadoes to hit the greater Baltimore-Washington D.C. During the evening (7:00-745 PM EDT) of Sunday, April 28, 2002, a long track, devastating tornado, with a peak rating of … These swaths and eyewitness accounts suggested that the tornado was multi-vortex (multiple, compact vortices circulating around the parent tornado circulation). Multiple locations were found. A closer view of this second house can be seen in the second photo below. A large scale severe weather event developed during the early part of Friday, February 7th. The damage path exited Calvert County and entered the Chesapeake Bay. Seven people were inside one of these houses; all seven survived (3 were in the basement, 2 were on the first floor headed to the basement, and 2 were on the second floor). The tornado crossed Route 6 again. EO-1 is the first Earth observing satellite launched as part of NASA’s New Millennium Program. The tornado that tore through College Park was the third and strongest tornado in a storm system that passed through parts of Virginia and the District of Columbia. Through downtown La Plata, the damage swath was almost one-half mile wide (approximately 650 yards). The tornado damage in Calvert County was rated F1 to F2 intensity. Additionally, seven mostly weak tornadoes touched down in Ontario on June 10. Human Presence. Warnings Defined Tornadoes were spotted in on the lower Eastern Shore and in Southern Maryland, and one motorist was killed in St. Mary’s County during the storm. In Prince William County, hail was reported. This stripe is the result of the vegetation flattened by the storm. Localized wind gusts could reach 60 mph and reports of downed trees came in from Leesburg due to storms earlier. 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