Alert archive / Maryland / Tornado Watches in 2026

Tornado Watch 529

July 28, 20265 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 28, 2026, 4:20 PM EDT for 5 states. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 28, 2026, 4:20 PM EDT (20:20 UTC)
Expired: Jul 28, 2026, 9:48 PM EDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 48 counties

Kent County, DE, New Castle County, DE, Sussex County, DE, Anne Arundel County, MD, Baltimore County, MD, Calvert County, MD, Caroline County, MD, Carroll County, MD, Cecil County, MD, Charles County, MD, City of Baltimore, MD, Dorchester County, MD, Harford County, MD, Howard County, MD, Kent County, MD, Montgomery County, MD, Prince George's County, MD, Queen Anne's County, MD, Saint Mary's County, MD, Somerset County, MD, Talbot County, MD, Wicomico County, MD, Worcester County, MD, Atlantic County, NJ, Burlington County, NJ, Camden County, NJ, Cape May County, NJ, Cumberland County, NJ, Gloucester County, NJ, Ocean County, NJ, Salem County, NJ, Bucks County, PA, Chester County, PA, Delaware County, PA, Montgomery County, PA, Philadelphia County, PA, Arlington County, VA, City of Alexandria, VA, City of Fairfax, VA, City of Falls Church, VA, City of Fredericksburg, VA, City of Manassas, VA, City of Manassas Park, VA, Fairfax County, VA, King George County, VA, Prince William County, VA, Spotsylvania County, VA, Stafford County, VA

The radar

The Dover AFB radar (KDOX), 60 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:19 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.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes: 50%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 10%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 60%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 20%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 20%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 10%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 80%

Warnings issued inside it

60 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 28, 4:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Baltimore, Carroll, Frederick, Howard, Montgomery	54 min
Jul 28, 4:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Calvert, Saint Mary's	29 min
Jul 28, 4:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LWX	Baltimore, Carroll, Harford	40 min
Jul 28, 5:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Baltimore, Harford	33 min
Jul 28, 5:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Anne Arundel, Baltimore, City of Baltimore	32 min
Jul 28, 5:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Talbot	45 min
Jul 28, 5:16 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	LWX	Anne Arundel, Baltimore, City of Baltimore	2 hr
Jul 28, 5:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Bucks	34 min
Jul 28, 5:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Howard, Montgomery	48 min
Jul 28, 5:28 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LWX	Cecil, Harford	32 min
Jul 28, 5:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	New Castle	61 min
Jul 28, 5:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Baltimore, Carroll, City of Baltimore	29 min
Jul 28, 5:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Cecil	41 min
Jul 28, 5:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Culpeper, Fauquier, Orange, Spotsylvania, Stafford, City of Fredericksburg	64 min
Jul 28, 5:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Dorchester	61 min
Jul 28, 5:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Kent	60 min
Jul 28, 5:46 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LWX	Culpeper, Fauquier, Orange, Spotsylvania, Stafford	29 min
Jul 28, 5:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Bucks, Northampton	43 min
Jul 28, 5:49 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Montgomery, Prince George's	26 min
Jul 28, 5:51 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LWX	Harford	12 min
Jul 28, 5:51 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	PHI	Talbot	24 min
Jul 28, 5:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Kent	52 min
Jul 28, 5:56 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LWX	Cecil	34 min
Jul 28, 5:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Caroline, Talbot	47 min
Jul 28, 5:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Anne Arundel, Prince George's	35 min
Jul 28, 6:06 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LWX	Cecil	24 min
Jul 28, 6:08 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Kent, New Castle	52 min
Jul 28, 6:10 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LWX	Anne Arundel	14 min
Jul 28, 6:15 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	PHI	Kent, Queen Anne's	30 min
Jul 28, 6:16 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	PHI	New Castle	29 min
Jul 28, 6:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Montgomery, Prince George's	28 min
Jul 28, 6:17 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	PHI	Bucks, Lehigh, Northampton	6 hr
Jul 28, 6:22 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LWX	Anne Arundel	23 min
Jul 28, 6:23 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	New Castle	67 min
Jul 28, 6:24 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	LWX	Montgomery, Prince George's	79 min
Jul 28, 6:28 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LWX	Spotsylvania	15 min
Jul 28, 6:32 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Anne Arundel, Prince George's	22 min
Jul 28, 6:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	PHI	Kent, New Castle	67 min
Jul 28, 6:46 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	PHI	New Castle	29 min
Jul 28, 6:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Anne Arundel, Calvert	27 min
Jul 28, 6:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	King George	37 min
Jul 28, 6:54 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Dorchester	51 min
Jul 28, 6:55 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Kent	50 min
Jul 28, 6:55 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	PHI	Queen Anne's, Talbot	35 min
Jul 28, 6:56 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	PHI	Bucks, Lehigh, Northampton	5 hr
Jul 28, 6:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Kent, Sussex	61 min
Jul 28, 7:06 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester, Salem	54 min
Jul 28, 7:08 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Berks, Chester, Montgomery	35 min
Jul 28, 7:11 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	PHI	New Castle	3 hr
Jul 28, 7:24 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	PHI	Chester	4 hr
Jul 28, 7:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Bucks, Northampton	44 min
Jul 28, 7:37 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, Salem	23 min
Jul 28, 7:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Sussex	50 min
Jul 28, 7:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Dorchester, Wicomico	45 min
Jul 28, 7:55 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	PHI	Bucks, Montgomery	4 hr
Jul 28, 8:08 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	PHI	Sussex	26 min
Jul 28, 8:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Bucks, Montgomery	39 min
Jul 28, 8:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Somerset, Wicomico, Worcester	47 min
Jul 28, 9:03 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	PHI	Berks, Montgomery	3 hr
Jul 28, 9:29 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	AKQ	Worcester	3 hr

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 111 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.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 710 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -79 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 968 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 45 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 174 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 1.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 28, 12:08 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Kent, New Castle	2 hr
Jul 28, 12:51 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	New Castle	8 hr
Jul 28, 2:04 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Sussex	116 min
Jul 28, 2:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Kent, Sussex	9 hr
Jul 28, 4:53 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Kent, New Castle	2 hr
Jul 28, 6:27 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Kent	63 min
Jul 28, 2:30 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and 6 more	2 hr
Jul 28, 6:51 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth and 1 more	54 min
Jul 28, 12:14 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Lee	91 min
Jul 28, 12:33 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alleghany, Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, Bland, Botetourt and 38 more	117 min
Jul 28, 1:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Alleghany, Amherst, Appomattox, Bath, Bedford, Bland and 40 more	8 hr
Jul 28, 3:39 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bedford, Bland, Botetourt, Buchanan, Carroll, Craig and 27 more	2 hr
Jul 28, 4:31 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Greensville, Isle of Wight, Southampton, Sussex, City of Chesapeake, City of Emporia and 8 more	119 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Maryland, 2026 Tornado Watches in Virginia, 2026 Tornado Watches in New Jersey, 2026 Every tornado watch in 2026

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.