A round of severe storms brought damaging straight-line winds and even a tornado to the Chesapeake Bay region this week.
In Crisfield on Friday evening, high winds came ashore and actually ripped some of the roof off of Somers Cove Marina, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
Ryan Rogers, a meteorologist at the NWS Wakefield, Virginia office, tells Bay Bulletin it happened around 5 p.m. Friday. What he calls “fairly robust winds” came ashore and then traveled northeast from Crisfield. At 5:08 p.m., NWS’ weather instruments recorded a wind gust of 76 miles per hour at Raccoon Point. A thunderstorm warning and tornado watch were in effect at the time.
Somerset County Emergency Services shared a photo of the damage on Facebook, reminding people that “severe weather can happen anytime…and include hazardous conditions produced by thunderstorms,” including straight-line winds.
Also on Friday afternoon, in northern Baltimore County, Maryland, NWS confirms an EF-1 tornado occurred. An NWS Baltimore/Washington storm survey found the tornado touched down in Monkton around 3:20 p.m. with a maximum wind speed of 90 miles per hour. Luckily the only damage was to trees and a homeowner’s swing set.
-Meg Walburn Viviano
