Tornado, Charles
- When
- July 13, 1:05 AM EST
- Where
- Charles County, 2 mi SW of Hughesville
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 0.3 mi
- Path width
- 35 yd
- Property damage
- $150,000
- Coordinates
- 38.520, -76.820
Tornado in Maryland, July 13, 1996
Tropical storm Bertha spawned three tornadoes along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay during the early morning hours of the 13th. The second twister touched down briefly in the Charlotte Hall community of Charles Co, stripping off a large portion of a barn's sheet metal roof.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $150,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS LWX wrote it up.
Tropical storm Bertha spawned three tornadoes along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay during the early morning hours of the 13th. The tornadoes were associated with the strongest feeder bands due north or northeast of the center of circulation, which was located in southeast Virginia at the time.The second twister touched down briefly in the Charlotte Hall community of Charles Co, stripping off a large portion of a barn's sheet metal roof. A garage containing auto repair machinery collapsed, and an adjacent home's brick chimney was also toppled. Several trees were felled in the vicinity. The tornado may have spun out of a nearby microburst, which snapped or uprooted over a dozen trees immediately southeast of the tornado track. In all, eight homes sustained minor damage; three others had moderate to major damage.
The radar
The Sterling radar (KLWX), 77 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 06:05 UTC.
Event by event
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornado in Colorado, July 13, 1996
- Tropical Storm in New Jersey, July 13, 1996
- Lightning Strike in Tennessee, July 13, 1996
- Flash Flood in New Hampshire, July 13, 1996
- Rip Current in Florida, July 13, 1996
- Rip Current in Florida, July 13, 1996
- Hail in Wyoming, July 13, 1996
- Tornado in Colorado, July 13, 1996
- Hail in Wyoming, July 13, 1996
- Hail in Nebraska, July 13, 1996
- Hail in Colorado, July 13, 1996
- Tornado in Maryland, July 13, 1996
More
Every storm in Maryland in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Maryland, 1996Warnings in Maryland, July 1996
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5568047.