2001 Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. tornado outbreak

Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC Tornado Outbreak
Picture of the tornado which hit the University of Maryland, College Park campus, killing two people.
Date of tornado outbreak: September 24, 2001
Duration1:
Maximum rated tornado2: F4 tornado
Tornadoes caused: 7
Damages: $105.157 million (2001 USD) $128.03 million (2008 USD)
Fatalities: 2 confirmed
Areas affected: Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C.

1Time from first tornado to last tornado
2Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita Scale

The Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., tornado outbreak of 2001 was the most dramatic recent tornado event to directly affect the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area in the United States.[1] The outbreak occurred on September 24, 2001, and was responsible for two deaths and 57 injuries.[2]

The first tornado of the outbreak was also the strongest - an F4 (see Fujita scale) tornado that left a 10-mile-long damage path through rural Culpeper and Fauquier Counties in Virginia. Weak (F1) tornadoes east of Warrenton, and just west of Dulles International Airport soon followed.

A second supercell to the southeast spawned the family of tornadoes that moved through Washington. A first tornado (F0) was confirmed in the Quantico, and nearby Prince William Forest Park areas; this was soon followed by an F1 tornado that left a 15-mile-long path parallel to I-95 and I-395 through Franconia, western Alexandria, and southeastern Arlington. This tornado dissipated near the west end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and was followed by many reports of funnel clouds.

The same storm soon produced a violent, multiple-vortex F3 tornado in College Park, Maryland. This storm moved at peak intensity through the University of Maryland, College Park campus, and then moved parallel to I-95 through the Beltsville, Maryland, area, where the tornado caused extensive damage to greenhouses and other facilities of the USDA Beltsville Agricultural Research Center.[3] The storm continued on to Laurel, Maryland, where F3 damage was also noted. The damage path from this storm was measured at 17.5 miles in length, and this tornado caused two deaths and 55 injuries, along with $101 million in property damage.

The two deaths at College Park were Colleen and Erin Marlatt, who died when their car was picked up by the tornado near the Easton Hall dormitory and thrown into a tree in a parking area.[4]

Contents

Confirmed tornadoes

Confirmed
Total		 Confirmed
F0		 Confirmed
F1		 Confirmed
F2		 Confirmed
F3		 Confirmed
F4		 Confirmed
F5
7 1 3 1 1 1 0
List of reported tornadoes - September 24, 2001
F#
Location
County
Coord.
Time (UTC)
Path length
Damage
Virginia
F4 Rixeyville area Culpeper, Fauquier 1903 10 miles (16 km)
F1 W of Gordonsville Orange 1935 0.2 miles (0.32 km)
F1 The Plains area Fauquier 1949 6 miles (9.7 km)
F0 Garrisonville area Stafford, Prince William 2010 12 miles (19 km)
F1 Newington area Fairfax, Alexandria, Arlington, District of Columbia 2044 11 miles (18 km)
Maryland
F3 Hyattsville area Prince George's, Howard 2119 17.5 miles (28.2 km) 2 deaths
Pennsylvania
F2 S of Hanover York 2333 5 miles (8.0 km)

See also

References

  1. ^ NOAA News Online (Story 777)
  2. ^ Tornadoes in the Past
  3. ^ USDA research center severely damaged in tornado. (press release) United States Department of Agriculture, September 25, 2001. Retrieved on 2008-12-22.
  4. ^ Dresser, Michael; Alec MacGillis (2001-09-25). "Tornado kills two UM students". vagazette.com (The Virginia Gazette). http://www.vagazette.com/bal-te.md.storm25sep25,0,7941310,full.story. Retrieved 10 November 2008. 

External links