Tornadoes · United States · Maryland · 2007
EF0 tornado, Butler, Maryland, June 13, 2007
This EF0 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Baltimore County on June 13, 2007, touching down at 5:10 PM EDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
EF2111 to 135 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.
EF3136 to 165 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
EF5over 200 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
- EF0
- Date
- June 13, 2007
- Touchdown
- 5:10 PM EDT (21:10 UTC)
- Lifted
- 5:17 PM EDT (21:17 UTC)
- On the ground
- 7 minutes
- Path length
- 2.0 miles (3.2 km)
- Path width
- 75 yards (69 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Baltimore County
- Touchdown point
- 39.559, -76.730
- Lift-off point
- 39.588, -76.730
- Record number
- 0706131510-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A series of weak surface low pressure troughs over the Mid Atlantic triggered numerous showers and thunderstorms across western and central Maryland. These storms moved east into the Baltimore Metro area and south into lower southern Maryland. Some of these storms became severe, producing damaging winds and large hail.
An NWS Storm Survey concluded that a small tornado, rated at EF0, did touch down north of the town of Butler in Baltimore County. The length of damage that the tornado produced was between 1 and 2 miles, with an approximate width of 75 yards. This conclusion was reached based on fall patterns of trees, branches and the defoliation of deciduous trees. No structural damage was found and no injuries were reported.
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.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 17:27 UTC and running to 22:56 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17:27 UTC | 22:56 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | LWX |
| 20:31 UTC | 21:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LWX |
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 19:58 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 air that afternoon
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.
Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD (KAPG), 12:00Z
9.2 hours before the tornado, 55 km from the path. June 13, 2007.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 494 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -45 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1137 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 825 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 17 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 4 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 5 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 27 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.2 K/km
The surface observations
Westminster (DMW), 24 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:46 UTC | 82.4 | 55.4 | 0° 0 kt | 1014.9 | ||
| 20:07 UTC | 82.4 | 55.4 | 110° 3 kt | 1014.6 | ||
| 20:28 UTC | 84.2 | 59 | 340° 3 kt | 1014.6 | ||
| 20:49 UTC | 82.4 | 57.2 | 150° 4 kt | 1014.6 | VCTS | |
| 21:10 UTC | 80.6 | 64.4 | 190° 8 kt | 1014.6 | VCTS | |
| 21:55 UTC | 66.2 | 60.8 | 100° 9 kt | 1015.9 | +TSRA | |
| 22:16 UTC | 66.2 | 62.6 | 130° 7 kt | 1016.3 | -TSRA | |
| 22:37 UTC | 64.4 | 60.8 | 90° 7 kt | 1016.9 | TSRA |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Sterling radar (KLWX), 93 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:11 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.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:28 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Ne Bel Air | Harford, MD | TREES DOWN IN THE SOUTH HAMPTON AREA. |
| 20:48 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Jarrettsville | Harford, MD | TREES DOWN. |
| 21:28 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Thurmont | Frederick, MD | TREES DOWN |
| 21:40 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | Owings Mills | Baltimore, MD | |
| 21:42 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Cockeysville | Baltimore, MD | TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN |
| 21:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 E Frederick | Frederick, MD | TREES DOWN |
| 21:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Ene Bentley Springs | Baltimore, MD | SEVERAL TREES DOWN AND POWER IS OUT. |
| 21:55 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Libertytown | Frederick, MD | TREES DOWN |
| 22:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Columbia | Howard, MD | TREE DOWN ON MURRAY HILL AND VOLLMERHAUSEN |
| 22:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Union Mills | Carroll, MD | TREES DOWN ON DEEP RUN ROAD. |
| 22:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Damascus | Montgomery, MD | POWERLINES DOWN. 911 CENTER REPORT. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in MarylandEvery tornado in Maryland since 1950Warnings in force in Maryland nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 13, 2007
5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
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.