F1 tornado, Faulkner to Newport, Maryland, May 18, 2002

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 18, 2002

Touchdown

7:25 AM EDT (11:25 UTC)

Path length

5.0 miles (8.0 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$20,000

County

Charles County

Touchdown point

38.400, -76.980

Lift-off point

38.400, -76.900

Record number

135

Scattered thunderstorms pushed through Southern Maryland between 7 and 9 AM EDT on the 18th. These storms produced damaging wind gusts in addition to three waterspouts. High wind gusts downed trees in Charles, Calvert, and St. Mary's Counties. Communities reporting downed trees included Nanjemoy, Malcolm, Wallville, St. Leonard, and Dunkirk. On the Potomac River, a waterspout formed about three miles north of the Route 301 bridge. It became a tornado as it struck land about 2 miles south of Faulker at F1 strength (60 to 80 MPH winds). It stayed on the ground for 5 miles and was 50 yards wide. The tornado first struck Popes Creek Road, then pushed east to Budds Creek Road near the intersection of Route 301. Next, it crossed the Wicomico River near the Zekiah Swamp Natural Environment Area. Several boats were damaged. Finally, it crossed Allens Fresh Road before dissipating about ½ mile south of Newport. Along its rural path it downed several trees, removed shingles and screen doors from homes, and destroyed a few sheds and barns. Two other waterspouts were spawned on the Chesapeake Bay. The first waterspout formed near Parker Creek, east of Prince Frederick on the Western Shore. It flipped a boat and sent the three people aboard into the water. One person was injured. The other waterspout formed near the Eastern Shore off Blackwater Point on Tighman Island. A wind gust of 42 knots was recorded at the Choptank River Sensor nearby.

A tornado damaged barns and downed trees along its 5 mile rural path.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 04:55 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), 80 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 11:24 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

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.