National Weather Service survey teams have confirmed two tornadoes touched down in Anne Arundel County during Tuesday’s severe thunderstorms, part of a broader outbreak that prompted a tornado watch covering 19 Maryland counties, including Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s, and knocked out power to tens of thousands of customers across the region.
The first confirmed tornado touched down near Lake Shore, close to Patapsco Road, around 6:15 p.m. Tuesday. The National Weather Service rated it EF1, with estimated peak winds of 100 mph. It stayed on the ground for about two minutes, carving a path roughly three-quarters of a mile long and up to 160 yards wide before lifting.
A second tornado touched down about a minute later along Lake Drive in the Arnold and Cape St. Claire area, on the south side of the Magothy River. Survey crews found significant convergent tree damage and at least one blown-in garage door consistent with tornadic winds, though the National Weather Service had not finalized an EF rating for that tornado as of Wednesday, with additional details expected once the damage assessment is complete. NWS meteorologist Dan Hofmann said the data pointed to “a second tornado on Lake Drive in Arnold on the south side of the Magothy River.”
Statewide, the National Weather Service confirmed four tornadoes from Tuesday’s storm system, including two additional twisters near Trappe in Talbot County on the Eastern Shore. No injuries were reported in connection with any of the confirmed tornadoes. At the peak of Tuesday’s storms, more than 36,000 BGE customers lost power across Baltimore City, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Howard and Prince George’s counties, with several thousand customers still without service as of Wednesday.
Southern Maryland was included in Tuesday’s tornado watch, which the National Weather Service issued from 4:20 p.m. to 10 p.m. across 19 counties and Baltimore City, along with a flood watch as rainfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour moved through the region. While Anne Arundel County bore the brunt of the confirmed tornado damage, the storm system’s reach into Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties reflects how a single line of severe thunderstorms can carry tornado risk across a wide swath of the state even when confirmed touchdowns cluster in one area.
Residents in affected Anne Arundel neighborhoods described chaotic scenes as the storms moved through. In Pasadena, 11-year-old Kaden Snyder said he watched a neighbor’s tree snap and fall while sheltering with his family. “I was sitting in my mom’s room watching TV and the power went out, and my mom told us to come in the living room, and then we got a tornado alert,” Snyder said. Across the Magothy River in Arnold, downed power lines and an arcing transformer trapped some residents on their street, according to local accounts.
Determining exactly what caused Tuesday’s damage takes time, and not every damaged tree or structure is evidence of a tornado. Storms like Tuesday’s frequently produce a combination of tornadoes, straight-line winds and localized microbursts, each of which leaves a distinct signature on the ground. A tornado’s rotating winds typically cause trees and debris to fall in converging or swirling patterns within a relatively narrow path, while straight-line winds — thunderstorm outflow that can reach 70 to 90 mph or higher — push debris in a single direction across a much wider area, sometimes spanning miles. A microburst, meanwhile, is an intense downward rush of air that slams into the ground and spreads outward in all directions, similar to water splashing after hitting a sidewalk; the strongest microbursts can exceed 100 mph and cause concentrated, extreme damage without the rotational signature of a tornado.
Radar can show meteorologists where rotation occurred within a storm, but only an on-the-ground survey can confirm what actually happened at a given location. National Weather Service survey teams examine tree fall patterns, structural damage and debris distribution alongside radar data to classify the cause of damage, a process that routinely takes a day or more to complete and finalize official tornado counts and EF ratings.
Whether Tuesday’s damage in a given neighborhood came from a confirmed tornado or from powerful straight-line winds, officials say the underlying message is the same: severe thunderstorms can turn dangerous in a matter of minutes, and residents should take tornado watches and warnings seriously regardless of which category the resulting damage is ultimately assigned.
