Bowie Tornado 12/11/24

​At approximately 2:38pm, a brief tornado touched down in Bowie, MD in a residential neighborhood north of Route 50 and west of Route 3. Using the TBWI radar, a classic outbound dominant QLCS circulation developed rapidly over the K section of Bowie, and progressed ENE crossing route 3 before dissipating. Damage consisted primarily of downed trees, including on Kembridge drive, Kayhill Lane, Keynote lane, and Knowledge lane. Here, 5 trees were uprooted and fell in multiple different directions indicating that winds were rotational in nature and not straight line. Powerlines were also reported down, and fence panels were blown down at a residence. No further damage was reported past route 3 where 1 large tree was snapped. Based on the damage, this was likely an EF0 tornado with estimated winds of around 80mph.

The radar data clearly suggests a tornado occured. There was a small, but tight velocity couplet in the exact area where damage occured. It peaked in intensity right over Kembridge ln before tracking east, and dissipating near route 3 where the last report of damage was noted. These small spin ups within a long QLCS like this are hard to detect using most radars, however the TBWI radar had a great low level look at this, showing the clear tornado signature. There was no tornado warning in effect at the time this tornado occured, and no official survey was completed by the NWS. 


DISCLAIMER: This article does not reflect the opinion of the entire team. This was independently written by Senior Forecaster Jack