F1 tornado — James City and York County, Virginia

F1 tornado in James City and York County, Virginia

Tornado August 6, 1993 · James City and York County, Virginia

Rating

8.0 mi

Path length

150 yd

Path width

$5.0M

Damage as recorded

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F1 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F1 meant moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken; the scale paired it with winds of 73–112 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A tornado touched down 2 miles south southeast of Williamsburg on the banks of the James River, destroying a recreation building and bath house and snapping numerous trees. It then moved into a trailer park at Blow Flats Road where five mobile homes were rolled over and it continued northeast and destroyed a storage trailer and a large metal manufacturing building and numerous trees were downed as well, blocking highways. The tornado then moved into York County, hitting the southern section of the Naval Weapons Station damaging several buildings and knocking down trees, it then dissipated in the western part of Yorktown.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 10356566. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

F1 tornado in James City and York County, Virginia

What the National Weather Service wrote

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