Residents of Southern Maryland have endured a lot of bad weather events over the past six years. An F4 tornado destroyed La Plata and killed four people in 2002. Hurricane Isabel closed and ruined a good many waterfront properties and businesses in 2003. Last year, Southern Maryland endured a summer-long drought, and now this most recent weekend of storms.
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On Friday, May 9, just across the Potomac River, a violent line of storms spawned a destructive F2 tornado. This Mother’s Day night saw an overnight power-killer roar through the area, downing trees and power lines. More strong storms are predicted for next weekend as well.
Each time a strong line of thunderstorms race through Southern Maryland, residents need to take caution and pay attention – the number one destructive storm force in nature is a direct result of these fast-moving thunderstorms – Tornadoes.
What follows is a brief look at the origins and reasons tornadoes form given current scientific understanding about these killer storms. The material indicates that as long as spring storms exist, no one is safe.
Tornado: The word “tornado” is derived from the Latin tonare, meaning, “to thunder.” The Spanish later created the word tornear, meaning twist – both are adequate words to describe the furious cyclonic action found in tornadoes and the deafening roar of the high velocity winds that accompany such storms.
A tornado is a column of wind spinning around a center of low pressure, reaching from clouds to ground. As it moves across the ground, the storm whips back and forth. The winds inside the funnel, rush up and in with speeds faster than most hurricanes, reaching up to 500 miles per hour.
The internal speed of even the weakest tornado can attain 120 miles per hour or more.
Wind funnels that do not touch the ground are not classed as tornadoes. Because of the sheer focused power contained in the narrow, winding storm, the tornado is perhaps he most dangerous storm existing on earth.
A great number of the thunderstorms that race across Southern Maryland each spring create harmless funnels that do not touch down. These events last from as little as a few seconds to more than an hour. Some funnels disappear only to reappear minutes later.
An average tornado is about 200 yards wide. The F4 that destroyed La Plata was estimated to be at least 500 yards in diameter. Larger tornadoes can develop smaller tornadoes as they move through unstable air. These smaller offspring are called satellites. Even though these satellites are usually very small – 50 yards wide – they can be very strong and destructive.
Tornadoes can form fast, in a minute or less. They can travel across the earth as fast as 100 miles per hour and then simply vanish. The average tornado exists for less than twenty minutes and travels only a few miles, however, there are the tornadoes referred to as super storms, which can tear across 100 miles of ground or more before dissipating.
Tornadoes are rated on a scale from F-0 to F-5. The F stands for the Fujita Scale. F0 winds are comparatively nominal and estimated at 65-85 miles per hour. F1 winds are from 86-110 miles per hour. F-0s and F-1s can destroy chimneys, knock mobile homes from foundations, shove cars off roads, and more.
F-2s with win