On This Day in 1998: F4 Tornado in Frostburg, Md.

On June 2nd, 1998, Maryland saw it’s first ever EF-4 tornado in Frostburg, Md., dealing damage for 48 miles.

The day began with a moderate risk of severe weather, with tornado watches being issued at 4:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. By the end of the day, three separate funnels had touched ground: two EF2 tornadoes, and the one EF-4. The two EF2 tornadoes claimed no lives, while the Frostburg tornado unfortunately caused five fatalities.

The EF4 tornado began in Pennsylvania, then worked its way into Maryland. It traveled up and down several mountain ridges, varying it’s intensity from EF2 to EF3. When it finally made it’s way to Frostburg, it had finally hit the EF4 mark.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a warning at 9:40 p.m., but had already verbally warned Allegany County, allowing warning sirens to be sounded. As it came over Big Savage Mountain, it was reported that the tornado had three funnels, making it a multi-vortex tornado. The warning issued by the NWS stated that the tornado would strike Frostburg at 9:45 p.m., and the tornado did exactly that.

A total of 29 homes were destroyed, another 29 had major damage, and 67 had minor to moderate damage. Three businesses were damaged along with one church, while one business was completely destroyed. Frostburg Elementary school sustained heavy damage alongside thousands of trees.

Debris from this tornado was found up to 100 miles away, all the way in Sterling, Va. All in all, this tornado caused about $5 million worth of damage.

Source: weather.gov
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Story Image: KLWX WSR-88D Composite Reflectivity at 9:32 pm EDT showing the progression of 3 tornadic supercells into Sterling's County Warning Area (via the NWS)
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