F1 tornado, La Plata to Indian Head, Maryland, September 8, 2004

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

September 8, 2004

Touchdown

12:58 PM EDT (16:58 UTC)

Path length

5.0 miles (8.0 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$70,000

County

Charles County

Touchdown point

38.470, -77.070

Lift-off point

38.570, -77.170

Record number

624

The remnants of Hurricane Frances produced damaging winds, tornadoes and flooding in the Mid Atlantic Region on the 8th. The region was troubled with felled trees, downed power lines, washed out roads, and streams/creeks that overflowed their banks. Allegany and Washington Counties were especially hard hit according to emergency personnel. 7 inches of rain fell in the western Panhandle of Maryland. In Allegany County Georges Creek rose out of its bank between Frostburg and Western Port. Route 135 was closed for buckling due to high water. Several bridges were under water and around 20 basements were flooded. Students were held in schools for an extra 1 ½ hours due to inclement weather on the 8th and some schools were closed on the 9th. In Washington County a mudslide washed out a section of west bound Maryland road MD-144.

A tornado touched down about 1 mile south of Garden Estates (about 6 miles sw of La Plata) on Biggs Farm Road. Several shelters and storage facilities were damaged or destroyed. Numerous trees, up to 2 feet in diameter, were either uprooted or topped. A large recreational van parked in front of a log-style home was overturned and at least 3 other automobiles were damaged from falling trees and debris. Then several homes sustained damage from felled trees, lost shingles, or suffered torn siding. A second touch down of the tornado brought damage to the Indian Head area, in west Charles County. 20 to 30 large trees, up to 3 feet in diameter, were uprooted. The total track length of the combined touchdowns was about 5 miles.

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

5 minutes of warning. NWS LWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 16:53 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 17:30 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:18 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), 60 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:56 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 2004 tornado in MarylandEvery tornado in Maryland since 1950Warnings in force in Maryland nowThe forecast where you are

20 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.