Tornadoes · United States · Delaware · 1994
F1 tornado, Farmington to Harrington, Delaware, July 27, 1994
From Farmington to Harrington, this F1 tornado ran 1.5 miles across Kent County on July 27, 1994, touching down at 6:40 PM EDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 to $500,000 of property damage.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
F2113 to 157 mph
Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.
F3158 to 206 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
F5261 to 318 mph
Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.
Unrated
The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.
The record
- Rating
- F1
- Date
- July 27, 1994
- Touchdown
- 6:40 PM EDT (22:40 UTC)
- Path length
- 1.5 miles (2.4 km)
- Path width
- 100 yards (91 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $50,000 to $500,000
- County
- Kent County
- Touchdown point
- 38.920, -75.600
- Record number
- 813
What the Weather Service recorded
Two sites along Route 13 had some wind damage. One was about 2 miles south of Felton where a warehouse lost its loading doors and sustained damage to some other doors. An empty trailer was blown off a rig which was driving south on Route 13. The second site was just west of Route 13 north of Felton where a mobile home was moved from its foundation (no tie-down) a damaged. Winds were estimated between 55 and 70 mph.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.
Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.
The forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:11 UTC.
SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.
The surface observations
Dover Afb (DOV), 26 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:00 UTC | 76 | 72 | 120° 7 kt | 1010.2 | ||
| 22:00 UTC | 74.8 | 72 | 90° 10 kt | 1009.8 | ||
| 22:48 UTC | 130° 6 kt | 1009.5 | ||||
| 23:00 UTC | 74.8 | 73 | 120° 7 kt | 1009.5 | ||
| 23:27 UTC | 130° 4 kt | 1009.5 | -TSRA FG | |||
| 00:00 UTC | 74 | 74 | 130° 4 kt | 1009.5 | -TSRA FG | |
| 00:20 UTC | 130° 4 kt | 1008.8 | FG |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 1994 tornado in DelawareEvery tornado in Delaware since 1950Warnings in force in Delaware nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of July 27, 1994
24 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 27 | 3:25 PM EDT | F0 | Cumberland, VA | 0.7 | 200 | |||
| July 27 | 3:50 PM EDT | F1 | Goochland, VA | 1.0 | 127 | |||
| July 27 | 5:33 PM EDT | F1 | Spotsylvania, VA | 4.0 | 150 | |||
| July 27 | 5:35 PM EDT | F2 | Charles, MD | 0.8 | 200 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| July 27 | 5:41 PM EDT | F0 | Stafford, VA | 0.8 | 100 | |||
| July 27 | 5:47 PM EDT | F0 | Stafford, VA | 0.5 | 73 | |||
| July 27 | 6:35 PM EDT | F0 | Kent, DE | 0.3 | 50 | 4 | $50,000 to $500,000 | |
| July 27 | 6:45 PM EDT | F0 | Kent, DE | 0.3 | 50 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| July 27 | 6:45 PM EDT | F2 | Charles, MD | 0.8 | 150 | $500,000 to $5 million | ||
| July 27 | 6:56 PM EDT | F0 | Charles, MD | 1.5 | 73 | |||
| July 27 | 7:03 PM EDT | F0 | Charles, MD | 0.2 | 50 | $500 to $5,000 | ||
| July 27 | 7:15 PM EDT | F1 | Prince George's, MD | 6.0 | 150 | |||
| July 27 | 7:21 PM EDT | F1 | Calvert, MD | 3.0 | 120 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| July 27 | 7:42 PM EDT | F1 | Prince George's, MD | 6.0 | 100 | 1 | ||
| July 27 | 8:20 PM EDT | F0 | Anne Arundel, MD | 5.0 | 100 | $50 to $500 | ||
| July 27 | 8:40 PM EDT | F2 | Anne Arundel, MD | 7.0 | 200 | $5,000 to $50,000 | ||
| July 27 | 8:57 PM EDT | F0 | Queen Anne's, MD | 1.5 | 100 | $500,000 to $5 million | ||
| July 27 | 9:10 PM EDT | F2 | Kent, MD | 4.0 | 150 | $500,000 to $5 million | ||
| July 27 | 9:45 PM EDT | F1 | Cecil, MD | 0.5 | 73 | $500 to $5,000 | ||
| July 27 | 9:48 PM EDT | F0 | Harford, MD | 0.5 | 73 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| July 27 | 10:02 PM EDT | F1 | Harford, MD | 2.5 | 30 | $500,000 to $5 million | ||
| July 27 | 10:55 PM EDT | F3 | Chester, PA | 4.0 | 100 | 11 | $500,000 to $5 million | |
| July 27 | 11:30 PM EDT | F1 | Chester, PA | 3.5 | 100 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| July 27 | 11:52 PM EDT | F3 | Montgomery, PA | 2.0 | 100 | 3 | 25 | $5 million to $50 million |
What this means
Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.
Sources
NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.