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EF1 tornado in Pulaski County, Virginia

Tornado April 8, 2011 · Pulaski County, Virginia

EF1

Rating

3.1 mi

Path length

480 yd

Path width

$1.4M

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 480 yards (0.27 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

The tornado touched down on Highway 11 near the National Guard Armory. It then tracked southeast, with intermittent damage over a wooded area. More continuous damage was then observed as it crossed Interstate 81 at Draper near exit 92. In this area, there was significant damage to a gas station and many homes. One mobile home was completely destroyed and numerous trees were snapped off. The tornado lifted as it moved up a small ridge about 1.5 miles southeast of Old Baltimore Road.

The wider storm

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.

Began near Draper (37.0280, -80.7740).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF2 Pulaski County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 300159. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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