The National Weather Service is confirming 3 tornadoes in Maryland today. Luckily no one was hurt and they were EF0 in strength. Now what frustrates me about the while thing is 1 yr ago on the 25th, my house got hit with one that they claim was a ‘straight line wind event.’ Now, the storm in question was Tornado Warninged (meaning there was rotation and either one was seen or on the ground) when it came through my house. That was why I was hiding in the closet for thirty minutes until it passed.

Now, I had been cutting the grass earlier that day and could see the storm coming towards me for over an hour as I was on the riding mower. In fact, the first clap of thunder, or flash of lightening, didn’t happen until I came in and took a quick shower. At that point my police scanner lit up and alerted me to the warning being issued for my county. Well, I hopped off the phone with my dad and raced into the closet. This is where things got wild.

Wind, rain and debris pelted the house for the next several minutes and then it went silent. And when I mean silent, it was as if you’d been locked away in a sound proof room. No bugs creaked, no bird chirped and there was no wind. A friend of mine from the midwest always told me that happened, then a twister was nearby and to run for cover. Well, I was already in the closet, so I called my mother and told her we were probably going to be hit.

While on the phone suddenly it got windier then ever before and I could hear debris hitting the house HARD and it went on for about 2 minutes. After that it went silent again. Ten minutes later the warning ended so I went and looked out the window. The sun was shining! Mind you, the storm took well over an hour to reach me, so it shouldn’t have blown clear that quickly.

Outside, I had to tops of a couple trees on the ground, one by the house split (had to cut it down) and another large arm of a tree in the field next to us ripped off and touching the ground. Window screens from my side of the house were in the back yard and ones from my parents side were in the field next door.

Straight line wind event my ass.

You can still see a path, about 20-30 yards wide where trees were ripped up (there were a lot of others down outside the area but that was the worst of it) on the street beside my house. Luckily for us, we were in a gully so the house avoided damage (that and not many trees around the house.)

Right now there are two sections of trees (facing different directions and a quarter mile apart) that are severely damaged on a road nearby. Both sections are 20-30 yards apart. Hmm…sound like straight line wind to you?

Be careful with believing everything they tell you because there’s a reason why most small twisters won’t be called one. You see, most wind events (hurricanes and tornadoes) aren’t covered by homeowners insurance. It takes a rider (a separate smaller policy within your policy) to cover that damage. So, by not calling it what it is, then people can get help from the insurance company.

Still makes for poor policy and one that is very dangerous. Thus, keep an eye on the sky, invest in a police scanner so you can hear Skywarn, and keep yourself safe.