The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado touched down in St. Mary’s County during a fast moving storm that moved through the area in early afternoon. The greatest damage was in the area around the St. Mary’s County Fairground south of Leonardtown and along Fairgrounds Road, with downed trees and power lines.
The National Weather Service reported the tornado was the lowest category, with sustained winds of 65 to 85 miles per hour, Lines were also downed along the Route 235 corridor in California with power outages and traffic lights off for short periods of time.
According to the National Weather Service the tornado lasted for about 18 minutes. Fire companies and police reported a number of calls for the duration of the storm. The weather service noted 15 reports of damage. When plotted on a map the damage reports were linear in nature and corroborated with radar rotational signals from the FAA Terminal Doppler Weather Radar at Andrews Air Force Base.
