"Spin-Up" Tornado Outbreak

A line of severe thunderstorms produced numerous reports of straight-line wind damage from central & northern Virginia to north-central Maryland, including the Washington DC and Baltimore metro areas. Embedded along this line of severe storms were seven instances of brief tornadoes.

Spin-up tornadoes are very difficult to forecast and issue warnings for. This is due to a weakness with our low level radar scans. The radar updates every 2 to 5 minutes with the latest scans when the radar enters severe weather mode or SAILS - Supplemental Adaptive Intra-Volume Low-Level Scan. During this time span, a tornado could form and immediately dissipate before radar can be used to issue warnings. These quick forming tornadoes are very dangerous, since they can strike with little warning.

Respect Severe Thunderstorm Warnings

This is why severe thunderstorm warnings are important to follow during days where tornadoes are possible. Any storm can produce a tornado but severe storms have a higher probability of producing them, due to their rotating nature.

Here's a summary of the tornadoes the DMV experienced on April 6th, 2017:

http://www.weather.gov/lwx/06Apr2017_Tornadoes

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