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Capital Weather Gang

How a tornadic storm tore through West Virginia and parts of northern Maryland Monday

An unexpected twister also hit Virginia’s Northern Neck

By
and 
May 5, 2021 at 11:32 p.m. EDT
Radar hook echo, indicative of rotation and a likely tornado, north of Charles Town, W.Va., at 6:27 p.m. Monday. (RadarScope)

This story was updated based on storm survey results from the National Weather Service which confirmed tornadoes in Ranson, W. Va., in eastern Frederick County, Md., and in Virginia’s Northern Neck.

For about four hours Monday evening, over a path of about 80 miles from northeast West Virginia and across northern Maryland, tornado warnings blared. They sounded as a long-track supercell or rotating thunderstorm dropped tornadoes while leaving behind several pockets of damage.