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Was Northeast of Baltimore area storm tornadic?


Ed Lizard

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I just heard about this. They have been under a gale warning, but that only covers 50+mph. They supposedly recorded over 80+mph winds. Maybe an F0 or F1 Tornado, but I think the extent of the damage is due to the ground being so wet before the onset of the strong winds, not necessarily a tornado.

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Given the SRM velocity with the line of storms, I'd go with a micro-burst or straight-line winds. The line didn't look terribly impressive on radar, so a tornado isn't the first thing to come to mind. It would be nice to get an aerial view!

We've been discussing this on the 40S forums as well, and what I stated above seems to be the consensus.

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Given the SRM velocity with the line of storms, I'd go with a micro-burst or straight-line winds. The line didn't look terribly impressive on radar, so a tornado isn't the first thing to come to mind. It would be nice to get an aerial view!

We've been discussing this on the 40S forums as well, and what I stated above seems to be the consensus.

Thanks.

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There is whole roofs ripped off town houses. click to image 16

http://www.wbaltv.co...631/detail.html

Thanks for the link!

Based on the limited evidence in those images, I would have to say it's not a tornado. One image shows people on a roof with shingles torn off. Only one side of the roof shows damage, indicating that it either got fringed by a tornado or was subject to winds coming just from one side of the building.

Another image shows debris on the ground near a building, but it is all just on one side of the building. A tornado would (usually) have debris strewn all over the place instead of just one side.

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Thanks for the radar grab! Looks like some broad rotation, but nothing tight that would indicate a tornado via Doppler. Would support a micro-burst, though.

Wouldnt a microburst show up in velocity as broad rotation anyway considering it hits the ground and fans out? Winds would be going towards and away from the radar no?

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Wouldnt a microburst show up in velocity as broad rotation anyway considering it hits the ground and fans out? Winds would be going towards and away from the radar no?

The scan itself is looking into the cloud, which does not usually represent exactly what's happening below the cloud base. The velocity scan simply shows that there is some rotation within the cell itself.

If we had a velocity scan below the cloud during a microburst, then your assumption would be correct.

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Just as a note... the radar beam at that distance is at 4,570 ft. asl... So nowhere close to representing whats going on on the ground..

In the mean time..

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC

551 PM EST WED NOV 17 2010

...BALTIMORE STORM DAMAGE REMAINS UNDER INVESTIGATION...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS COMPLETED

AN INITIAL GROUND DAMAGE SURVEY FROM MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY TO

CARNEY IN THE BALTIMORE AREA. THIS AREA SUSTAINED DAMAGE DURING

THE EARLY MORNING HOURS OF WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 17.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IS AWAITING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

AND IS CONTINUING ITS INVESTIGATION OF THE STORM DAMAGE. A FINAL

STORM SURVEY REPORT IS EXPECTED TO BE ISSUED ON THURSDAY.

$$

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No kidding! Meteorological demolition derby? :thumbsup:

THE DAMAGE FROM THE EF-1 TORNADO WAS IN TWO SEPARATE AREAS A HALF

MILE APART. THE FIRST AREA WAS ONE-TENTH OF A MILE LONG AND 175

YARDS WIDE THAT INCLUDED THE DUTCH VILLAGE APARTMENT COMPLEX. THREE

OF THE UNITS HAD THEIR ROOFS BLOWN OFF. THE ROOFS WERE NOT CLIPPED

TO THE STRUCTURES. THERE WAS EXTENSIVE TREE DAMAGE. SEVERAL CARS

WERE SHIFTED BY THE FORCE OF THE WIND. THE TORNADO LIFTED BRIEFLY.

THEN THE SECOND AREA... APPROXIMATELY A HALF MILE NORTH OF THE FIRST

AREA...WAS ONE-THIRD OF A MILE LONG AND 250 YARDS WIDE...CENTERED ON

THE PERRING PARKWAY SHOPPING CENTER IN PARKVILLE. EVIDENCE OF THE

TORNADO INCLUDED RETAIL PROPERTY SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS WHICH SHOWED

DEBRIS BLOWING IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS...TREES AND LIGHT POLES

FALLING IN A CONVERGENT PATTERN...EYEWITNESS REPORTS...AND LEAF

SPATTER ON ALL FOUR SIDES OF AUTOMOBILES AND STRUCTURES

Nice.. I would love to see that footage. For a weekend project I am going to go over the BWI TDWR data (its a wayy lower scan) and see what it comes up with.

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Anyone have a link to archived radar loop? Composite preferrably.

Why would you want a composite? Less detail!

If it's a regional composite you're looking for, there's a nice one archived here: http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/imagearchive/

Just choose the date (11/16/10), choose 1 for Extra Days at the top, click on RadarComposites and select the Mid-Atlantic. The composite is about once an hour, but has a frame for about 6 minutes prior to the tornado (0624Z on the 17th). It's a good look at the system as a whole :D

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In the early evening hours near Pittsburgh a similar storm came through and produced a spin up, numerous trees were down and a barn roof was taken off from an iconic barn near by

No NWS Survey team came out

So they never confirmed it officially? Or they did but just didn't send a team?

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