EF1 tornado, Morgantown to Woodberry Beach, Maryland, June 27, 2015

1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

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

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

6. 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.

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

EF1

Date

June 27, 2015

Touchdown

4:32 PM EDT (20:32 UTC)

Lifted

5:07 PM EDT (21:07 UTC)

On the ground

35 minutes

Path length

16.1 miles (25.9 km)

Path width

800 yards (732 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$13,000

Counties

Charles and Saint Mary's counties

Touchdown point

38.294, -76.907

Lift-off point

38.390, -76.636

Record number

1506271432-01

Potent low pressure passed by to our west, and the warm front associated with the low moved through our area during this time. Warm and moist air near and south of the boundary led to an unstable atmosphere, while forcing from the warm front provided the lift. Thunderstorms developed, and with potent shear profiles around the warm front isolated thunderstorms did produce tornadoes.

A team from the National Weather Service in Sterling Virginia concluded that a tornado struck southern Charles County just south of the US-301 Bridge at Morgantown. ||The tornado peaked at EF-1 intensity with winds of 90 mph produced damage beginning at the Potomac River Shoreline in Morgantown. The tornado moved northeast along Morgantown Road, ending its damage path just after it crossed over Route 257-Rock Point Road. ||While on the ground through Morgantown and along Morgantown Road, the tree damage was substantial with dozens of large trees snapped and uprooted in multiple directions along its path. It took several crews hours to remove numerous large trees and restore access down Morgantown Road. Many homes had some of their shingles removed and siding damage, and at least one home had roofing materials removed along the roof edge. More substantial structural damage was mainly limited to destroyed outbuildings and carports, except where trees fell on homes. ||The damage coincided with a tornadic signature on National Weather Service and FAA Doppler Radars.

National Weather Service in Sterling Virginia has concluded that a tornado struck southern Charles County before traveling into Saint Marys County. ||The tornado began near the Swan Point Golf Course in Issue Maryland. The tornado crossed Route 257 near the Holy Ghost Church Church near Hatton Creek Road uprooting numerous trees along its path.

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 20:27 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:54 UTC and running to 23:26 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:57 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), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:33 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2015 tornado in MarylandEvery tornado in Maryland since 1950Warnings in force in Maryland nowThe forecast where you are

27 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.