Strong Wind — Dorchester, Maryland

2025-02-16 · Dorchester, Maryland

Event narrative

The 911 Call Center reported a fallen tree in Dorchester County due to the gusty winds, both ahead of and behind a cold front, on top of saturated soil. Winds gusted to 35 to 50 miles per hour through the day with a MDDOT mesonet measuring a gust to 48 miles per hour in Dorchester County.

Wider weather episode

A strong area of low pressure tracked from eastern Ohio across Pennsylvania and into New England on February 16, pushing a strong cold front across the region. A warm front lifted north across the region ahead of the cold front with a strong low level jet allowing for gusty southwest winds to develop across the Maryland Eastern Shore on the morning of February 16. A west wind developed in the afternoon behind the cold front. The combination of gusty winds of 35 to 50 mph in the afternoon on top of the saturated soil was enough to result in several fallen trees across portions of Maryland.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1238455. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.