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Thunderstorm Wind in Smyth County, Virginia

Thunderstorm Wind May 16, 2025 · Smyth County, Virginia

58 mph

Estimated gust (50 kt)

$5K

Damage as recorded

Where the report was made, with tornadoes recorded within 15 miles over the years.

What the National Weather Service wrote

Thunderstorm winds blew down multiple trees along the 700 block of West Chilhowie Street.

The wider storm

A large surface low pressure system slowly moved across the northern Plains, with the associated cold front stalling across the Ohio Valley. A mesoscale convective system developed over Kentucky and tracked east towards the central Appalachians, bringing storms the area by the afternoon of May 16. The cold pool from the advancing MCS provided enough lift for convection to break through the morning inversion, and plenty of daytime heating increased SBCAPE to 4000 J/kg. The mesoscale environment was conducive for large hail and damaging winds, which led to numerous reports of downed trees and hail an inch or larger in diameter.

Began near Marion (36.8400, -81.5300).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1258362. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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