GAITHERSBURG, Md. — The DMV was hit was severe weather Wednesday, with tornadoes seen forming across the area, and as cleanup is still underway Thursday the National Weather Service provided an update of what happened.
James Lee, the Meteorologist-in-Charge of NWS Baltimore/Washington, while in Gaithersburg, said it appears that two or three long-track tornadoes were in the region Wednesday night. He continued by stating at this stage, NWS believes they could be seeing winds of up to 105 mph in the area.
Lee also stated there is evidence of spotty damage, which means that the tornadoes might of "skipped through" the area -- literally. They will touch down briefly, pick back up, go four or five miles and drop back down again -- causing damage, Lee said. He said there was one tornado in particular that went through Poolesville to Gaithersburg to Columbia up into Middle River -- "that was one super cell that did intermittent damage."
It is said that in this event, the tornadoes were either EF-0 or EF-1, which is considered minor on the Enhanced Fujita scale.
"Actually in our area we average about 10 to 15 EF-0 or EF-1 tornadoes a year. So we have not seen an uptick in tornadoes in our region looking at the past 20 years of record," Lee said.
Chris Burt, the Senior Emergency Manager with Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services, stated that as they assess damage in the area -- five or six homes are believed to be impacted. There has also been five people taken to the hospital to be treated for their injuries sustained. The severity of those injuries have not been released.
American Red Cross is also doing damage assessments in the area and working to assist those impacted by damage.
Lee said that NWS will have more information about the tornadoes expected Thursday afternoon, confirming the mph of them as well as their category.
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