F1 tornado, Olney, Maryland, May 27, 2001

1. F040 to 72 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F173 to 112 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. F4207 to 260 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. 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.

7. 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.

Rating

F1

Date

May 27, 2001

Touchdown

3:10 PM EDT (19:10 UTC)

Path length

3.5 miles (5.6 km)

Path width

70 yards (64 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$500,000

County

Montgomery County

Touchdown point

39.120, -77.120

Lift-off point

39.150, -77.070

Record number

172

Thunderstorms that produced damaging wind, large hail, and a tornado moved across central Maryland during the afternoon and evening hours of the 27th. In Montgomery County, a tornado touched down 3.5 miles southwest of Olney and moved northeast into the center of town. The twister was rated an F1 and was 70 yards wide. The first sign of damage from the tornado was downed trees at the intersection of Muncaster Mill Road and Bowie Mill Road southwest of Olney. The tornado tracked east-northeast, passing just north of Magruder High School through North Branch Stream Valley Park. The damage path reappeared over Norbeck Country Club. Numerous trees were downed in a narrow area on the north end of the property and an employee saw the funnel cloud touch down. The damage to trees continued just east of the country club into the Cahsel Manor and Williamsburg Village neighborhoods on the southwest side of Olney. Over 40 trees were downed across the neighborhood. A car, shed, power line, and a large fence were significantly damaged by downed trees. One home sustained damage to a gutter and three other homes had small portions of siding pushed up or removed. Next, the tornado moved into the center of town and crossed just east of the intersection of Route 97 and 108. A restaurant just east of the intersection had pieces of roofing and insulation ripped off and carried blocks away. A few trees in the parking lot were also downed. Nearby, a strip mall which contained a multi-screen cinema and six shops sustained significant roof damage. Pieces of roofing material were found over a mile away from the site. Theater patrons saw ceiling tiles crashing down in the lobby. Fifty cars in the parking lot had damage to windows and a few storefront windows were also broken. Remarkably, no injuries were reported. The mall had to be evacuated and temporarily condemned until structural engineers could make repairs. The tornado continued to down trees northeast of the shopping center between Appomattox Road and Brooke Grove Elementary School before dissipating.In addition, the tornadic storm produced high winds a few miles west of Olney. Trees were downed near the intersection of Bowie Mill Road and Bready Drive. The same storm system dropped dime sized hail on Montgomery Village. A storm earlier in the afternoon downed trees in Rockville. Several other locations across the county reported pea to marble sized hail during the afternoon, including Potomac, Rockville, Silver Spring, and Burtonsville. Late in the evening another storm produced a funnel cloud over Avenel Golf Course in Potomac. No damage was reported. In Howard County, pea to marble sized hail fell in Columbia. Five miles south of town, dime to penny sized hail was reported. High winds caused power outages across the county. In Anne Arundel County, trees and power lines were downed in Glen Burnie, Rivera Beach, and Annapolis. Pea to marble sized hail fell in Jessup, Rivera Beach, Glen Burnie, and at Fort Meade. A wind gust of 45 MPH was reported in Pasadena. In Baltimore County, trees and power lines were downed in Cockeysville, Towson, and Middle River.

Numerous trees were downed and buildings were damaged.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 17:13 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 radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2001 tornado in MarylandEvery tornado in Maryland since 1950Warnings in force in Maryland nowThe forecast where you are

11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.