Update: The weather service has canceled the tornado watch posted earlier today, at least on the western shore of the bay, as the band of storms moved through without affecting our area. But there was more excitement to our south, as this radar loop shows.

Earlier: The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for Baltimore and the surrounding counties in north-central Maryland and parts of southeastern Pennsylvania - the yellow region on this map - in effect until 8 p.m. tonight.

We don't usually think of this area as tornado country, but twisters - almost always small ones - are not really uncommon in Maryland. For an interesting, albeit incomplete accounting of past Maryland tornadoes, click here.  The biggest tornado in recent memory was the F4 La Plata twister that struck Charles County in April 2002. For a detailed tour of the damage, click here.