EF-1 Tornado Confirmed in Edgewater, Maryland on Thursday, September 3rd, 2020

...NWS DAMAGE SURVEY FOR 9/3/2020 TORNADO EVENT...

.EF-1 TORNADO CONFIRMED IN EDGEWATER MARYLAND...

Location...Edgewater in Anne Arundel County MD
Date...Thursday, September 3, 2020
Estimated Time...5:57 PM to 6:07 PM EDT
Maximum EF-Scale Rating...EF-1
Estimated Maximum Wind Speed...90 mph
Maximum Path Width...100 yards
Path Length...6.1 miles
Beginning Lat/Lon...38.9480/-76.5695
Ending Lat/Lon...38.9233/-76.4615
* Fatalities...0
* Injuries...0

...Summary...
A supercell thunderstorm tracked east across central Maryland and
produced an EF-1 tornado that touched down late Thursday
afternoon in Edgewater Maryland and continued to the western shore
of the Chesapeake Bay.

Tornadic damage began after the storm crossed Beard`s Creek off
the South River. Trees were first downed near the intersection of
Edgewater Drive and Park Avenue, just north of Lee Airport. The
tornado intensified as it moved east into central Edgewater, and
reached its peak EF-1 strength in the area of the community
bounded by Solomons Island Road (Route 2), Virginia Avenue, and
Ridge Avenue. In this area damage was blown in all directions.
Siding was torn from the wall of one home, and some roof flashing
was damaged on another. A commercial fence was blown down to the
north. However, most of the damage was to trees. Most of the trees
in this area had at least some large branches ripped from their
upper sections. About 10 trees in this wooded community were
entirely uprooted or snapped. Some of those trees fell into power
lines, and at least 2 power poles were snapped because of this. A
few homes and vehicles were damaged from falling trees and
branches.

As the tornado crossed Solomons Island Road, it weakened to an
EF-0 but continued to cause scattered tree damage with uprooted
or snapped trees that were thrown generally left of the tornado
track. Damage was noted on both sides of Warehouse Creek along
Leeland Road and South River Landing Road.

The tornado continued across South River and into Hillsmere
Shores. A large tree was uprooted on the The Key School soccer
field with numerous large branches strung across the 100-yard
field to the left of the track. One large branch caused damage
to the protective netting and metal framing attached to a
scoreboard situated on the west side of the soccer field. The
damage path continued east across Hillsmere Drive where a half
dozen 30-40 foot tall pine trees where uprooted and criss-crossed
in a northeast and southeast fashion.

Further northeast along Sunset Drive, scattered tree damage was
observed with several large trees snapped. One large tree was
uprooted and puncturing a roof resulting in water intrusion
inside the home. Additional scattered tree limb damage was
observed immediately to the east northeast with limbs noted thrown
to the left of the track.

As the tornado tracked east, scattered tree limb damage was
observed along Thomas Point Road and through the Arundel on the
Bay community. A few large trees were observed to be snapped and
uprooted along Cohasset Ave near Walnut Ave. Tree damage became
minor near the shoreline of the Bay between Linden Ave and Walnut
Ave.

While wind damage from this storm was examined between Crofton,
Davidsonville, and Riva, that tree damage was unidirectional,
largely oriented from west east, and falling generally in the
direction of the storm`s motion.

The National Weather Service would like to thank Anne Arundel
County Office of Emergency Management for their assistance with
his survey, and our trained SKYWARN spotters who first reported
the damage to us shortly after it occurred.


EF Scale: The Enhanced Fujita Scale classifies tornadoes into the
following categories:

EF0.........65 to 85 mph
EF1.........86 to 110 mph
EF2.........111 to 135 mph
EF3.........136 to 165 mph
EF4.........166 to 200 mph
EF5.........>200 mph

* The information in this statement is preliminary and subject to
change pending final review of the event and publication in NWS
Storm Data.

$$

CS/BKF/SMZ