Tornado confirmed is Essex on June 20th, see the radar and pictures

Hook echo on Doppler radar at 3:40pm on Saturday June 20 2009.

Happy Father's Day, and Summer Solstice.  It's not for residents of south east Baltimore county though.  The severe storms the erupted in the afternoon on Saturday, followed by numerous reports of funnel clouds and damage, was in fact a tornado. This is the second tornado in south east Baltimore County in less than two weeks.  The last storm to produce a tornado, was June 9th in  Dundalk, the next town over.

This image of the Doppler Radar clearly shows the classic hook echo passing over Essex, as the circulating storm wraps around  in a comma shape.  This was due to incredible wind sheer, and high humidity with dew points in the 70s, and enough heating into the lower 80s.  More Doppler Radar images in the slide show below.

According to the National Weather Service Report:

1 Mile ESE of Essex, MD

EF1 RATED DAMAGE. TWO TREES INTO HOUSES. DOZENS OF TREES SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. PATH LENGTH FIVE MILES. WIDTH 150 YDS. PEAK WIND 90 MPH.

This was one of 10 tornado reports in the nation on Saturday.  All of the others were in Kansas.

Ironically, the tornado season is still below average.  Check out this recent report of the tornado season.  While the recent activity continues to make headlines and stir the pot for the climate change fanatics, it is just making of for a slow start to spring.  The latest count and comparison is in the slide show below.

Check out this links for more:

Recent extreme weather stories

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