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F1 tornado in Montgomery County, Maryland

Tornado November 5, 2003 · Montgomery County, Maryland

Rating

10.0 mi

Path length

75 yd

Path width

$1.2M

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

NOAA recorded where this tornado touched down but not where it lifted, so it appears as a point. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F1 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F1 meant moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken; the scale paired it with winds of 73–112 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A tornado touched down 2 miles west of downtown Poolesville. The tornado destroyed a horse barn on Whites Ferry Road on the western edge of Poolesville. The storm then tracked east and produced more concentrated damage from the Rickman Horse Farm Complex to Boyds. It then crossed Clopper Roadand entered Western Germantown and lifted.

The wider storm

A tornadic thunderstorm produced a pair of weak tornadoes across Northern Virginia before crossing into Maryland on the 5th. Once in Maryland, the first tornado produced scattered damage in rural areas between the Potomac River and Poolesville. A second tornado produced damage from Poolesville to Germantown. A 50 foot section of a horse barn on Whites Ferry Road was destroyed. A tin roof was torn off a business in downtown Poolesville. The tornado continued east and produced more structural damage at Rickmans Horse Farm. Dozens of trees were either snapped off or knocked down. The storm finally crossed Clopper Road between Route 121-Clarksburg Road and Festival Way and then entered Germantown and finally lifted. Widespread damage was observed in the Kingsview Ridge, Germantown Estates and North Germantown Subdivisions. Wind speeds ranged from 60 to 90 mph.

Began near Poolesville (39.1500, -77.4167).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5379733. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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