[1] At approximately 6:56 pm (EST), the tornado touched down south of Marbury in western Charles County, Maryland.

After crossing the bay, the tornado moved across Dorchester County, again intensifying to F3 strength before dissipating west of Salisbury, Maryland.

During that afternoon, a tornado formed from a supercell that developed in central West Virginia and moved across the Appalachian Mountains.

[1] At 6:45 pm (EST), a severe thunderstorm warning was issued for northern Charles and Calvert Counties in which a call-to-action statement mentioned the possibility of tornadoes.

[9] At approximately 7:30 pm, after striking Benedict, Maryland, the tornado began its path through Calvert County, causing widespread F1/F2 damage.

The La Plata tornado stayed on the ground & bay for 90 minutes, causing a 78-mile path of damage and destruction through southeast Maryland.

The tornado took a path through Charles, Calvert, Dorchester and Wicomico Counties, downing or uprooting thousands of trees and leveling several structures, including catastrophic structural damage in downtown La Plata, where approximately 65 percent of the area was heavily damaged or destroyed.

Unfortunately, as the tornado moved southeastward, it continued to strengthen while tearing through downtown La Plata, with swaths of F4 being observed.

A home with no anchoring or foundation east of this area was picked up and thrown 80 feet into a culvert, unfortunately killing an elderly couple who were in the house at the time.

Debris such as canceled checks, bank/tax documents, and teller receipts from La Plata were also found in southern Delaware, well over 60 miles away.

Damage to houses initially rated F5 were lowered when engineer Timothy Marshall surveyed and determined these homes were not properly anchored, causing them to be swept off their foundations by lesser winds.

[10] This includes the toppled steel water tower in La Plata, which "was impressive but occurred in an area of F1 damage".

[9] Due to the extremely fast forward speed, the tornado also had less time to dwell over structures & buildings, with it moving nearly a mile a minute (96.5 km/h) in downtown La Plata.

[9] Due to this event, La Plata placed several tornado sirens all around and near the town for preparation on future storms.