Thunderstorm Wind — Highland, Virginia

2023-08-07 · near Blue Grass, Highland, Virginia

Event narrative

Considerable tree damage was reported near New Hampden. Dozens of trees blew down on VA-640 Blue Grass Valley Road and VA-642 Laurel Fork Road.

Wider weather episode

A strong cold front, driven by an unusually strong upper-level trough and wind shear, interacted with a hot, humid, and unstable airmass over the Mid-Atlantic. This pattern resulted in the formation of lines of thunderstorms and several supercells. The most widespread and significant wind damage was noted over northern Maryland, although pockets of considerable wind damage were noted over portions of northwestern Virginia and eastern West Virginia. Somewhat atypical for the Mid-Atlantic is late summer was the number of large hail reports, with multiple instances of giant hail noted.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.4984, -79.5490)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1108495. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.