F0 tornado, Frederick, Maryland, June 6, 2002

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

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

2. F173 to 112 mph

   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

F0

Date

June 6, 2002

Touchdown

5:05 PM EDT (21:05 UTC)

Path length

2.0 miles (3.2 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$10,000

County

Frederick County

Touchdown point

39.430, -77.400

Lift-off point

39.450, -77.380

Record number

158

Scattered thunderstorms moved through North Central and Southern Maryland in addition to the Washington D.C. and Baltimore metropolitan areas during the afternoon of the 6th. In Frederick County, an F0 tornado touched down at 5:05 PM EDT just north of Hayward Road near Frederick (1/4 mile west of Route 15). The tornado caused intermittent minor damage to structures and downed several trees as it pushed east before lifting near the Monocacy River. It had a path length of 2 miles and a width of 50 yards. The twister toppled an unanchored construction trailer in Governors Choice Industrial Park. A home in the Dearbought Park subdivision lost a chimney. At least 20 trees were downed in the Broadview Acres area, including one which landed on a car. In Montgomery County, a funnel cloud was spotted near the intersection of Shady Grove Road and Mill Run Drive. Minor tree damage was reported in the vicinity. Pea to marble sized hail was reported in Burtonsville, Glenmont, Silver Spring, and Forest Glen. A wind gust of 51 MPH was recorded in Shady Grove and a gust of 54 MPH was recorded in Gaithersburg. In Carroll County, a wind gust of 46 MPH was measured in Millers. A gust of 50 MPH was estimated in Westminster. In Baltimore County, 2.15 inches of rain fell at Cylburn Arboretum in Baltimore. A wind gust of 56 MPH was recorded around 1 PM in Parkton. In Anne Arundel County, the strongest part of the thunderstorm tracked between Fort Meade and Riviera Beach. Dime sized hail fell at BWI Airport. Quarter sized hail was reported in Chesterfield. Pea to golfball sized hail was reported in Pasadena where a total of 2.56 inches of rain fell. Trees and power lines were downed in Pasadena, Glen Burnie, and Arnold. Four homes were damaged by downed trees and nine homes were struck by lightning across the northern portion of the county. A 330-year-old tree in Lothian was also heavily damaged. At the height of the storm, 13,200 customers were without power. In Howard County, dime to quarter sized hail was reported in the Laurel and Savage areas. A few trees were also downed countywide. In Prince Georges County, golf ball sized hail fell in Brandywine. Quarter sized hail was reported in Laurel and pea sized hail fell in Accokeek. For a second straight day, trees fell onto homes in the county. About a dozen families in Cottage City were displaced after 11 homes were condemned due to structure damage. A home in Clinton burned to the ground after a fallen tree started the house on fire. Minor damage was also reported in Bladensburg. Heavy rains caused ponding of water on roads in the southern portion of the county. In Charles County, marble sized hail fell in Bryans Road. Trees and power lines were downed countywide. Several homes were also struck by lightning. In Calvert County, wind damage was reported from fallen trees. A large branch was downed in Derwood. Pea sized hail fell in Dunkirk and hail of unknown size fell at Solomon's Island. In St. Mary's County, trees were downed and a fence was ripped from the ground in the Indian River Estates neighborhood of Mechanicsville.

A weak tornado toppled a trailer, downed trees, and caused minor roof damage.

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

15 minutes of warning. NWS LWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:50 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:30 UTC.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:28 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 Sterling radar (KLWX), 52 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:06 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2002 tornado in MarylandEvery tornado in Maryland since 1950Warnings in force in Maryland nowThe forecast where you are

1 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.