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EF1 tornado in Caroline County, Virginia

Tornado August 8, 2024 · Caroline County, Virginia

EF1
Rating
1.7 mi
Path length
700 yd
Path width
$200K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 700 yards (0.40 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

Around 654 PM, a thunderstorm in a rain band associated with Tropical Depression Debby produced a short lived tornado that initially touched down near Cedar Fork Road about 1 mile west of Route 1 near Golansville. The tornado snapped and uprooted several pine trees in this location before entering a densely wooded forest to the north. About 6/10 of a mile to the northeast, the tornado entered the Lake Caroline Subdivision near the intersection of Senate Drive and Kennedy Cove. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted. As the tornado continued to travel north northwest, it continued to knock down additional trees, with numerous houses along Loyalist Drive, American Drive, West Point Drive, Woodlyn Drive, Powder Horn Drive and Admiral Drive receiving roof and siding damage from trees falling on houses. In all, more than 30 houses were damaged from falling trees, and power lines were downed throughout the community. After crossing the west end of Lake Caroline, the tornado began to weaken with just a few more trees being knocked down along Lake Caroline Road and Waring Drive before dissipating.

The wider storm

Tropical Cyclone Debby tracking northward from the Carolinas across western Virginia produced scattered severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and one tornado across portions of central and southeast Virginia.

Began near Golansville (37.9741, -77.5210).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1213503. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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