DELMARVA, MD — The National Weather Service issued two tornado warnings Thursday afternoon as most of Delmarva remained under a tornado watch. The first warning covered Kent and Queen Anne’s counties in Maryland around 2:45 p.m. after forecasters detected a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado over Rock Hall.
That warning expired at 3:15 p.m. The weather service then upgraded most of Delmarva from a severe thunderstorm watch to a tornado watch around 3 p.m., keeping the alert in effect until 10 p.m. Thursday night for the peninsula except Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
Warnings and Watch
The National Weather Service said the first warning was triggered by a storm over Rock Hall that had tornado potential. A second tornado warning followed around 4:15 p.m. for Kent County in Delaware, and that warning expired at 4:45 p.m.
Officials did not say Thursday evening whether any tornadoes were confirmed on the ground. The weather service’s alerts indicated that conditions were favorable for tornado development, which is why the watch covered much of the region through the night.
How The Alerts Developed
The sequence of alerts showed how quickly conditions changed across the peninsula. First came the Maryland warning, then the broader watch upgrade for most of Delmarva, and later the Delaware warning. The National Weather Service used those alerts to warn residents that severe thunderstorms in the area could turn into tornado-producing storms.
Delmarva refers to the peninsula shared by Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. In this case, the warning areas included counties in Maryland and Delaware, while Virginia’s Eastern Shore was left out of the tornado watch that stretched to 10 p.m.
What Comes Next
The key question after Thursday’s alerts is whether any tornado touched down or whether the warnings expired without confirmed damage. The National Weather Service had not provided those details in the information released Thursday afternoon and evening.
Residents looking for the latest updates should check the National Weather Service and local weather outlets, including WBOC’s weather reports, for any new advisories, warnings, or storm surveys. The watch was scheduled to end at 10 p.m. Thursday unless forecasters extended or replaced it with additional alerts.
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