Thunderstorm Wind in Fredericksburg (c) County, Virginia

A macroburst swept across the City of Fredericksburg between 2:20 and 2:30 PM with estimated peak wind gusts around 80 MPH. Hundreds of trees, tree limbs, and wires were blown down as a result. Numerous large trees were snapped, siding and shingles were removed from homes, and a shed was shifted off its foundation near Maury Stadium where a 92 MPH wind gust was measured at 4:24 PM at a height of 20 meters (twice as high as the standard observation height of 10 meters). Numerous trees and large tree limbs blew down near Belman Road and VA-3 Blue and Gray Parkway about a mile east of Lafayette Boulevard. Some trees fell onto homes.

A strongly unstable airmass in a moderately sheared environment squeezed between two fronts resulted in several clusters of destructive thunderstorms. The most intense thunderstorms propagated north to south along a stalled front dividing very unstable air near and west of Interstate 95, from notably more stable air closer to the Chesapeake Bay.

The event was unusual not only because of the intensity of the thunderstorms, but because they moved in a north to south direction, even propagating south-southwestward at times.