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How does DC's June 5 severe weather event compare to past outbreaks?

The 13 tornados that touched down in the DMV on June 5 made it one of the largest local severe weather events in recent memory.

MARYLAND, USA — Some may wonder how the severe weather event on June 5 stacks up against the largest outbreaks around the nation's capital. The 13 tornadoes confirmed by NOAA were not only significant for any single day in this region, but the June 5 outbreak also stands among the larger severe weather events in the DMV area

However, it was overshadowed by the June 29, 2012, derecho, which is a rare weather event defined as a widespread and long-lived windstorm associated with a line of fast-moving thunderstorms. A derecho typically produces damaging straight-line winds over a large area, often hundreds of miles long. 

The June 1, 2012, severe weather outbreak in the nation's capital was significant in its own right. A total of 28 tornadoes were reported in the DMV, with a total of 12 tornadoes that were confirmed by NOAA. Fortunately, they were weak (EF-0's and EF-1), similar to June 5, 2024, and caused relatively minor damage. Heavy rain and flash flooding accompanied these severe storms with widespread 2"- 4" rainfall totals.

Another severe weather outbreak occurred the previous spring. On April 27-28, 2011, there was a total of 19 confirmed tornadoes across the DMV. The strongest was an EF-2 tornado with winds up to 130 mph in Rockingham and Shenandoah Counties in Virginia. This severe weather event was part of a larger four-day outbreak from April 25 - 28, that spanned across the central and eastern United States.

Landfalling tropical systems are infamous for spawning tornadoes. These tornadoes from weakening tropical storms and hurricanes often occur in areas that are well inland and away from where the storm initially made landfall. There's no better example of this than Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

Ivan made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast on September 16, 2004, as a Category 3 hurricane. Its remnants caused a tornado outbreak in the Mid-Atlantic Region on September 17, 2004, when dozens of tornadoes occurred. According to NOAA, Ivan was the top tornado producing hurricane on record with a total of 127 tornadoes in the United States.

More recently, the DMV had a much smaller tornado outbreak when Hurricane Isaias made landfall. Isaias made landfall as a minimal, Category 1 storm in North Carolina on August 3, 2020, and quickly weakened to a tropical storm. It caused a total of 46 tornadoes from South Carolina to Connecticut, with three in southern Maryland.

RELATED: Ranking the strongest tornadoes in the DMV

RELATED: National Weather Service says 13 tornados touched down in Maryland on June 5

RELATED: The I's Have It: How Isaias compares to past storms that impacted the DMV

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