Although it is a relatively small geographical area and tornadoes are a relatively rare phenomenon in the Mid-Atlantic region, Washington, D.C. has been hit by at least ten of these damaging storms since modern records have been kept.
This list may be incomplete, as official tornado records only extend back to 1950 in the United States.
However, this works out to around 0.56 tornadoes per 1,000 square miles (2,600 km2) per year, which is not statistically higher than average for the surrounding area.
Although there is some debate as to whether this storm was a true tornado, it likely killed some British soldiers, heavy rains helped extinguish the fires set by the British, and the losses suffered contributed to their withdrawal from the city.
[5][6] Another tornado occurred just two weeks after the September 11 attacks in 2001, crossing the National Mall and narrowly missing the Pentagon.