A tornado was responsible for much of Saturday’s storm damage in Charles County, Md., the National Weather Service confirmed on Sunday.
With winds as high as 90 mph, the tornado uprooted trees, tore down power lines, and ripped shingles and eaves from roofs along an 8.4 mile northeasterly path from La Plata to Waldorf, the weather service said.
No injuries were reported.
The maximum width of the twister was 125 yards, the weather service said.
Some residents of the area, about 25 miles south of Washington, reported seeing funnel clouds Saturday, but the presence of a tornado was confirmed only after a ground survey of damage, and examination of radar information.
Saturday’s twister was on the second-lowest level on the enhanced Fujita scale for classifying tornadoes, according to the weather service. It was a “low end” EF-1, the weather service said. That is one notch ahead of EF-0.
Far more powerful tornadoes struck LaPlata in November, 1926 and in April, 2002.
According to the weather service, tornadoes are rare in Maryland in February.
By Martin Weil
February 26, 2017
