Alert archive / Maryland / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 1, NWS Baltimore/Washington
NWS Baltimore/Washington issued this tornado warning at Jun 18, 1997, 1:29 PM EDT for Washington County, Maryland. It was in force for 31 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Jun 18, 1997, 1:29 PM EDT (17:29 UTC)
- Expired
- Jun 18, 1997, 2:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 31 min
- Issued by
- NWS Baltimore/Washington
- Area
- Whole counties
County Washington County, MD
The radar
The Sterling radar (KLWX), 75 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:30 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.
Open the radar archive at this moment
The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.
The nearest sounding before it
Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 5.5 hours before the alert went out and 81 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 392 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -95 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 671 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 40 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 156 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 219 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.4
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
925 WFUS1 KWBC 182130 TORWBC MDC043-181800- BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WASHINGTON DC 129 PM EDT WED JUN 18 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WASHINGTON HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 200 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN WEST CENTRAL MARYLAND ...WESTERN WASHINGTON COUNTY DOPPLER RADAR AT 530 PM INDICATES A TORNADO JUST EAST OF HANCOCK MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH. IT SHOULD BE NEAR INTERSTATE 70. PEOPLE IN WASHINGTON COUNTY WITHIN 5 MILES OF THE PENNSYLVANIA BORDER SUCH AS CLEAR SPRING AND INDIAN SPRINGS WILL BE AFFECTED. THE STORM PATH WOULD BE NEAR OR JUST NORTH OF HAGERSTOWN IF IT HOLDS TOGETHER. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS... OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY. AVOID WINDOWS. RDH
The office that day
Everything else NWS Baltimore/Washington issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 18, 4:01 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | LWX | Allegany | 44 min |
| Jun 18, 4:01 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LWX | Allegany | 44 min |
| Jun 18, 5:29 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | LWX | Washington | 31 min |
| Jun 18, 6:02 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LWX | Montgomery | 33 min |
| Jun 18, 6:34 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LWX | Montgomery | 31 min |
| Jun 18, 6:52 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LWX | Prince George's | 48 min |
| Jun 18, 7:15 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LWX | Anne Arundel | 30 min |
| Jun 18, 7:31 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LWX | Charles | 59 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Maryland, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes in 1997
Sources
The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.