Tornado

An intense, widespread storm system spawned at least one tornado Friday and battered parts of the Baltimore region with damaging winds and torrential rain, halting flights and flooding roads during rush hour. The storm ripped through Harford County, doing the most severe damage to a triangular area bordered by Belair Road, Harford Road and Route 152. What witnesses said was a tornado uprooted some trees, sheared off the tops of others, tore down power lines, collapsed two small buildings, sent at least one person to Maryland Shock Trauma Center and brought much of the greater Fallston area to a halt.

A decade ago tomorrow, the worst tornado in Maryland history struck La Plata, killing three people and flattening buildings with 261 mph winds. The F5 twister, the top of the scale for tornado intensity, left a plate of fried chicken on the counter of a fast-food restaurant but tore off two of the building's walls and its roof, according to one Baltimore Sun report. It left one resident's mailbox standing, waiting for more mail in front of a house that was torn from its foundation, resting on some bushes.

Destructive and devastating tornadoes have grabbed the weather headlines so far this year, with the 416 tornadoes observed through April 9 about one-fourth more than normal. But does the apparent spike in severe weather, also including hail and damaging thunderstorms, mean added risk for Maryland? Not according to the National Weather Service and AccuWeather.com severe weather blogger and meteorologist Henry Margusity. Granted, last week Maryland marked "Severe Storms Awareness Week" to get residents mindful of severe storm preparation.

A day after Orioles reliever Kevin Gregg 's abysmal relief appearance in Sunday's 9-2 loss at Toronto — an outing in which the right-hander went through seven batters to get one out with two down in the sixth inning, allowing five runs to score — manager Buck Showalter expressed support for the maligned pitcher. For Gregg, who is making $5.8 million in a bullpen role that's still undefined, it was his second straight rocky outing. He allowed a decisive two-run 10th-inning homer to Nick Swisher in a 6-4 extra-inning loss to the New York Yankees on Wednesday.

Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy received some scary news when the team's charter flight touched down in Chicago Sunday evening. That's when Hardy got word that a storm system that terrorized many parts of the midwestern U.S. and spawned numerous tornadoes leveled the condominium of his grandmother, Carol Shinn, in the town of Creston, Iowa on Saturday evening.  Shin was uninjured, but her home was destroyed. “I wasn't really following the weather so I didn't even know about the tornadoes going on,” Hardy said.

As part of Maryland Severe Storms Awareness Week, a statewide tornado drill is taking place Wednesday at 9:45 a.m . The alert will be issued over NOAA weather radios at that time, with an all-clear message to follow at 10 a.m. All Maryland schools are being encouraged to participate, and businesses, families and individuals can develop their own tornado plans and join in, too. Tornado plans should involve heading to the lowest small...

Bystanders have posted cell phone videos of today's tornado outbreak in the Dallas area on YouTube, and they are awe-inspiring and surreal. In one video, people stand in awe of a twister in the distance before fearing it's headed their way and going indoors. Here are two accounts of a tornado near Forney, Texas:  

The Earth Observatory at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt has pulled together an animation of the outbreak of tornadoes that swarmed across the eastern half of the country Friday. Above, you can see a still image pulled from the animation. At least 45 tornadoes spanned across 11 states, killing 40 people, most of them in Kentucky. Click here to view the full animation .

The funnel cloud that caused minor damage in Ocean City on Thursday has been officially determined to be a tornado, a National Weather Service meteorologist said Saturday. The storm began as a waterspout over the Assawoman Bay and dissipated as it transitioned onto land about 3:55 p.m. near 75th Street, said Dan Proch, of NWS' Wakefield, Va., bureau. Gusts were estimated to be 60 to 70 miles per hour, he said. An on-site investigation Saturday revealed that the tornado was about 40 yards wide and cut a path of about one-half mile, Proch said.

The Baltimore Grand Prix's effect on restaurant business was as unpredictable as a tornado. I spoke with restaurant owners who told me they had their best Labor Day weekend ever. But business was off elsewhere, sometimes way off. Business was off in Canton, Fells Point and Little Italy, some of whose restaurant owners will be meeting with race organizers next week to discuss what can be done next year and beyond to bring more business east of President Street. Pedicabs and other shuttles sound like a good idea.