News

Actions

UPDATE: June severe weather reclassified as tornadoes

Posted
and last updated

The National Weather Service in Sterling, Virginia, has now ruled that some severe storm damage on June 13 was actually caused by tornadoes.

Tornadoes of EF-0 strength (winds of 65 to 85 mph) hit Spotsylvania and King George counties.  No injuries or deaths were reported.

Here is the official storm summary:
TORNADO CONFIRMED NEAR THORNBURG, VIRGINIA

LOCATION...NEAR THORNBURG IN SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY VIRGINIA
DATE...JUNE 13 2013
ESTIMATED TIME...2:35 PM TO 2:40 PM EDT
MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING...EF-0
ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED...80 MPH
MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH...75 YARDS
PATH LENGTH...2.5 MILES
BEGINNING LAT/LON...38.096N / 77.539W
ENDING LAT/LON...38.125N / 77.513W
* FATALITIES...0
* INJURIES...0

* THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO
CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT(S) AND PUBLICATION IN
NWS STORM DATA.

...SUMMARY...
AFTER REVIEW OF RADAR OBSERVATIONS AND A GROUND SURVEY...THE NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE HAS CONFIRMED A EF-0 TORNADO IN SOUTHEASTERN
SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY ON THE AFTERNOON OF THURSDAY JUNE 13 2013.

THE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN NEAR MAYRE ROAD WEST OF JEFFERSON DAVIS
HIGHWAY...WHERE SEVERAL TREES WERE SNAPPED AND UPROOTED. THE TORNADO
TRAVELED TO THE NORTH-NORTHEAST ROUGHLY ALONG US HIGHWAY 1 AND
INTERSTATE 95. AT A FARM ON HIGHWAY 1...A SHED WAS DESTROYED WITH
TWISTED DEBRIS SCATTERED ACROSS THE PROPERTY. PORTIONS OF ROOFS WERE
PEELED ON OTHER SHEDS. MINOR SIDING AND ROOF DAMAGE OCCURRED TO THE
FARMHOUSE. AFTERWARDS...THE TORNADO DAMAGED TWO BILLBOARDS NEAR THE
SOUTHBOUND LANES OF INTERSTATE 95...AND CARRIED A PLACARD FROM ONE
OF THE BILLBOARDS ACROSS THE HIGHWAY. JUST TO EAST OF INTERSTATE
95...THE TORNADO OVERTURNED TWO RECREATIONAL VEHICLES AT A DEALERSHIP
AND PULLED A GARAGE DOOR OFF ITS HINGES. THE TWO RECREATIONAL VEHICLES
WEIGHED AN ESTIMATED 8000 POUNDS EACH.

BASED ON THE DAMAGE, THIS TORNADO IS RATED EF-0, WITH ESTIMATED WIND
SPEEDS OF 70 TO 80 MPH. THE PATH LENGTH WAS 2.3 MILES...WITH AN
ESTIMATED WIDTH OF 75 YARDS. TIME ON THE GROUND WAS APPROXIMATELY FIVE
MINUTES. THE START TIME WAS 2:35 PM.

TORNADO CONFIRMED IN RURAL KING GEORGE COUNTY VIRGINIA

LOCATION...SOUTHEASTERN KING GEORGE COUNTY VIRGINIA
DATE...JUNE 13 2013
ESTIMATED TIME...2:57 PM TO 3:06 PM EDT
MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING...EF-0
ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED...70 MPH
MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH...50 YARDS
PATH LENGTH...7.1 MILES
BEGINNING LAT/LON...38.180N / 77.180W
ENDING LAT/LON...38.189N / 77.049W
* FATALITIES...0
* INJURIES...0

* THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO
CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT(S) AND PUBLICATION IN
NWS STORM DATA.

...SUMMARY...

AFTER REVIEW OF RADAR OBSERVATIONS AND A GROUND SURVEY...THE NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE HAS CONFIRMED A EF-0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN
SOUTHEASTERN KING GEORGE COUNTY ON THE AFTERNOON OF THURSDAY JUNE 13
2013.

THE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN PORT CONWAY...WHERE TREE DAMAGE OCCURRED
JUST EAST OF US HIGHWAY 301. THE TORNADO THEN TRAVELED EAST-NORTHEAST
ACROSS SOUTHEASTERN KING GEORGE COUNTY...CAUSING INTERMITTENT TREE
DAMAGE. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE OCCURRED NORTHEAST OF ROLLINS FORK
NEAR THE WESTMORELAND COUNTY BORDER...WHERE THREE 20-30 INCH DIAMETER
POPLAR TREES WERE BLOWN OVER AND NUMEROUS SMALL TREES WERE TOPPED.

BASED ON THE TREE DAMAGE, THIS TORNADO IS RATED EF-0, WITH ESTIMATED
WIND SPEEDS OF 65 TO 70 MPH. THE 7.1 MILE DAMAGE PATH LENGTH WAS
DISCONTINUOUS, WITH AN ESTIMATED WIDTH OF 50 YARDS. TIME ON THE GROUND
WAS APPROXIMATELY NINE MINUTES. THE START TIME WAS 2:57 PM.