Another oldee, the late afternoon of 28 April, 2002. I watched a singular, huge anvil-shaped thunderstorm with a history of tornadoes before crossing the Appalachian’s, strengthen as it headed east across northern Virginia about 8 miles south of Manassas. It struck La Plata, Maryland about an hour later as an F4, strongest tornadic storm to ever hit Maryland. The town and nearly 1000 homes were destroyed, with 122 injured and three deaths. It left a 32 mile scar like the one shown by Henry north of Penn State. As a life long weather geek (thanks to John Coleman) I had been keeping track of the VA storm through the morning and early afternoon as it continued unabated, before I went out to cut the grass of my new home of two months, where I watched it pass uncomfortably close to home.