EF1 tornado, Sykesville Mape Arpt, Maryland, March 11, 2026

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, as surveyed

EF1, preliminary

Date

March 11, 2026

Touchdown

7:06 PM EDT (23:06 UTC)

Lifted

7:08 PM EDT (23:08 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

0.7 miles (1.2 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Howard County

Touchdown point

39.333, -77.000

Lift-off point

39.336, -76.987

Highest wind the damage implies

90 mph

Surveyed by

NWS LWX

The office's name for it

Cooksville

Survey last edited

March 28, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

Public Information Statement

National Weather Service Baltimore MD/Washington DC

311 PM EDT Fri Mar 13 2026

...NWS Damage Survey for 03/11/26 Cooksville, MD Tornado...

.Cooksville, MD Tornado...

Rating: EF-1

Estimated Peak Wind: 90 mph

Path Length /statute/: 0.4 miles

Path Width /maximum/: 100 yards

Fatalities: 0

Injuries: 0

Start Date: 03/11/2026

Start Time: 7:06 PM EDT

Start Location: 2 S Gaither / Howard County / MD

Start Lat/Lon: 39.3333 / -77.0004

End Date: 03/11/2026

End Time: 7:08 PM EDT

End Location: 2 S Gaither / Howard County / MD

End Lat/Lon: 39.3366 / -76.9870

Survey Summary:

A supercell thunderstorm moved through northern Montgomery and

northwestern Howard Counties in Maryland during the evening hours

of Wednesday March 11, 2026. The bow echo and associated

downbursts/thunderstorm wind gusts caused sporadic tree damage

from 60-80mph gusts, and created a brief EF1 tornado, with focused

tornadic damage near Cooksville in northwestern Howard County.

On March 12, staff from the National Weather Service

Baltimore/Washington Weather Forecast Office conducted a ground

survey of the storm damage. The survey started near Damascus and

extended through northwestern Howard County. There were numerous

instances of trees uprooted or snapped, as well as damage

resulting from downed trees. Tree fall was generally in the

direction of the storms easterly movement. Ground evidence

suggested the thunderstorm produced scattered wind damage along

its path from 60 to 80 mph wind gusts.

However, as the storm continued east-northeastward, crossing the

interchange of I-70 and MD-97, damage was observed 300 yards

southwest of Old Frederick Road, crossing Old Frederick Road

between Forsythe Road and Underwood Road. Here, along a treeline

to the southwest of Old Frederick Road, approximately 50 trees

were uprooted or snapped across an approximately 100 yard wide

swath. Several of the uprooted trees fell at right angles to each

other. Additional trees were snapped or uprooted near residences

to the northeast of the road. About 300 yards to the northeast of

Old Frederick Road, and tree damage from the storm reverted to

being scattered and unidirectional. This damage is indicative of a

low-end EF1 tornado.

Additional to the ground survey, Doppler radar information from

KLWX (Sterling VA radar) and TBWI (FAA BWI radar) was analyzed.

Radar showed a powerful storm with broad rotation aloft along its

path. From radar analysis coupled with ground observations, it was

determined that an EF1 tornado formed at 7:06pm and lifted at

7:07pm, with estimated winds up to 90 mph, a path length of 0.4

miles, and a maximum width of 100 yards.

Special thanks to Howard County Office of Emergency Management

for their assistance. Additionally, thanks to the trained

spotters, media, and public that sent in reports of damage.

Written by NWS LWX in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

7 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LWX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 90 mph.

• Around 50-100 trees uprooted and snapped
• Numerous trees uprooted and snapped.
• Numerous trees uprooted and snapped
• Several large pine trees snapped halfway up, falling in multiple directions. Lawn furniture was also tossed in multiple directions.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A powerful cold front spawned a narrow corridor of bowing line segments and line-embedded supercells, resulting in damaging straight-line wind gusts and tornadic damage.

A supercell thunderstorm moved through northern Montgomery and northwestern Howard Counties in Maryland during the evening hours of Wednesday March 11, 2026. The bow echo and associated downbursts/thunderstorm wind gusts caused sporadic tree damage from 60-80mph gusts, and created a brief EF-1 tornado, with focused tornadic damage near Cooksville in northwestern Howard County. On March 12, staff from the National Weather Service Baltimore/Washington Weather Forecast Office conducted a ground survey of the storm damage. The survey started near Damascus and extended through northwestern Howard County. There were numerous instances of trees uprooted or snapped, as well as damage resulting from downed trees. Tree fall was generally in the direction of the storm's easterly movement. Ground evidence suggested the thunderstorm produced scattered wind damage along its path from 60 to 80 mph wind gusts. However, as the storm continued east-northeastward, crossing the interchange of I-70 and MD-97, damage was observed 300 yards southwest of Old Frederick Road, crossing Old Frederick Road between Forsythe Road and Underwood Road. Here, along a treeline to the southwest of Old Frederick Road, approximately 50 trees were uprooted or snapped across an approximately 100 yard wide swath. Several of the uprooted trees fell at right angles to each other. Additional trees were snapped or uprooted near residences to the northeast of the road. The tornado appeared to have briefly lifted before touching down a final time at a residence on Underwood Road, where several trees were uprooted and snapped in multiple directions. This damage is indicative of a low-end EF-1 tornado. Additional to the ground survey, Doppler radar information from KLWX (Sterling VA radar) and TBWI (FAA BWI radar) was analyzed. Radar showed a powerful storm with broad rotation aloft along its path. From radar analysis coupled with ground observations, it was determined that an EF-1 tornado formed at 7:06pm and lifted at 7:08pm, with estimated winds up to 90 mph, a path length of 0.4 miles, and a maximum width of 100 yards. Special thanks to Howard County Office of Emergency Management for their assistance. Additionally, thanks to the trained spotters, media, and public that sent in reports of damage.

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

6 minutes of warning. NWS LWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:00 UTC, 6 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:19 UTC and running to 00:00 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, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. 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 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), 58 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:07 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 2026 tornado in MarylandEvery tornado in Maryland since 1950Warnings in force in Maryland nowThe forecast where you are

56 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.