University of Maryland Alerts Students to Tornado That Never Came

On Thursday evening at 6:59 p.m., students and faculty at the University of Maryland received the following email and text alert:

"A tornado is forecast to strike the campus within the next 3 to 4 minutes.  Remain in shelter until advised."

That was the third digital warning sent.  In addition to the emails, a hurricane alarm sounded on campus.

Five minutes later, no tornado materialized.  An hour later, still no tornado. 

Although UMD issued the warning several times, the National Weather Service didn't.  There was no tornado warning issued for Prince George's County, or any surrounding region for that time, according to the NWS.

But UMD officials told News4 they had an obligation to alert the public of a safety threat.  A spokesperson told News4 UMD security had been in touch with the Accuweather forecasting service.  They said Accuweather warned of a rotation in the approaching storm, so they sent the multiple warnings out of an abundance of caution.

The National Weather Service did confirm that a tornado touched down in Stafford County near Quantico.  It was also investigated suspected tornadoes in Louisa and New Kent counties in Virginia.