EF2 Tornado — Pulaski, Virginia

2011-04-08 · near Pulaski, Pulaski, Virginia

Event narrative

The tornado touched down along Mount Olivet Road and traveled southeast, with the most significant damage along Pulaski Street, Valley Road, and Maple Street. Several roofs were torn off homes, top floors of a couple homes were completely destroyed, a couple homes were knocked off their foundations, and numerous large trees were snapped off. Over 200 homes received some damage, with around 30 of these destroyed beyond repair.

Wider weather episode

A high pressure centered over New England helped push a back door cold front to the vicinity of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Warm and unstable air in advance of this front, combined with an upper level low pressure system, resulted in the development of severe thunderstorms along the front. The strongest storms occurred right along the boundary, where two tornadoes hit Pulaski County. These two tornadoes were the first documented in Pulaski County since records began in 1950.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.0490, -80.8030)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 300147. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.