In Jean Surowiec’s Marriottsville backyard, all that remains of a once plentiful peach tree is an eight-foot stick.
 
Down the hill, a massive black walnut is shaved, broken branches resting in its remaining limbs.
   
Farther into the woods and across Surowiec’s pond, the tangled roots of two fallen poplar trees stand taller than she does.
 
As she has believed since July, the damage is part of a path cut by a tornado spun from an afternoon storm, a relatively rare occurrence in Howard County.

Last week, after studying data from the storm, which tracked across Howard County for about 20 minutes on the afternoon of July 31, the National Weather Service confirmed her suspicions.

Chris Strong, a warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the tornado, which probably lasted less than a minute, wasn’t pronounced enough to be picked up on radar at the time.
 
After reviewing data from the storm, it was labeled an “EF1” — a tornado with winds between 90 and 100 mph.
 
“It’s a weaker tornado, but it’s still the type that will knock down trees and start to do some damage of structures,” he said.
 
While the storm was on the less damaging end of the scale, which reaches to level five with winds over 200 mph, Surowiec still has some cleaning up to do around her Woodford Drive house.

“It was like someone made a highway through my woods,” she said.
 
The path of the tornado, which stretched through the yards of Surowiec and her neighbors near Marriotts Ridge High School and toward Marriottsville Road, was 50 yards wide and a tenth of a mile long, Strong said.

“It all happened very quickly and fell apart just as quickly,” he said.

Local tornadoes usually small

Maryland experiences about 20 tornadoes a year, Strong said. Most are small; level four tornados (winds from 166 to 200 mph) occur roughly once a decade.

Ken Schifflett and his wife, Dot, watched the same storm roll through their property on Barley Field Way, where it knocked down a handful of trees.
 
He said it was some of the worst wind he’s ever experienced.
 
“It hit so quickly,” he said “We weren’t scared. I didn’t think it was strong enough to tear a roof off or anything.”

Surowiec, who was running errands during the storm, said the damage was too close for comfort and she wishes there had been some sort of notification.
 
“I know it went around the front of my house because it looked like someone took a fire hose and flattened my bushes,” she said.

According to Strong, a severe thunderstorm warning, which means the weather service expects damaging winds and large hail, was issued for Howard County shortly after 2 p.m. July 31. The tornado occurred at 2:30 p.m.

Capt. Ryan Miller, deputy director of emergency management for Howard County, said that when a severe thunderstorm warning is issued, “you really need to be cued into your surroundings.”

He recommended using a NOAA All Hazards Weather Radio as an alternative to standard television and radio alerts during severe storms.
 
A NOAA radio broadcasts National Weather Service Alerts as they happen.

“A lot of people are depending on their television and their radios to tell them what’s going on, but if you’re asleep ... you don’t get it,” said Miller, who keeps a NOAA radio on his night stand.
 
Strong said during a severe thunderstorm, people should stay inside and avoid windows. Those in mobile homes should find a more secure structure in which to take shelter.
 
For more information about NOAA All Hazards Radio, click here.

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