EF2 tornado in Isle of Wight County, Virginia

Tornado April 16, 2011 · Isle of Wight County, Virginia

EF2

Rating

22.6 mi

Path length

400 yd

Path width

$300K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 400 yards (0.23 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

Tornado damage was along a nearly continuous 20 mile damage path from east of Walters to just southwest of Smithfield. Many trees were downed, sheared off or topped, and a number of power lines were also brought down. More than 2 dozen homes were damaged with a few sustaining significant damage. Several farms were impacted with farm equipment picked up and tossed around. The most significant damage occurred in the first 10 to 12 miles of the tornado path.

The wider storm

Scattered severe thunderstorms in advance of a cold front produced damaging winds, large hail, and numerous tornadoes across portions of central and eastern Virginia.

Began near Ballards Xrds (36.7529, -76.8396).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

7 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF3 Gloucester County 2 dead EF2 Middlesex County EF1 Lunenburg County EF1 Dinwiddie County EF1 Southampton County EF1 Middlesex County EF0 Southampton County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 303640. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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