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EF2 tornado in Halifax County, Virginia

Tornado April 27, 2011 · Halifax County, Virginia

EF2
Rating
18.1 mi
Path length
350 yd
Path width
1
Death
7
Injuries
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 350 yards (0.20 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

The tornado, with winds estimated up to 125 MPH, formed from a supercell and initially touched down near High Rock Trail off Thompsons Store Road. It then moved northeast, causing most of the worst damage in the Liberty Road area. This includes one death and eight injuries in that region. Also in this area four mobile homes and a large camper trailer were destroyed. A little further along the track a roof sustained heavy damage, an outbuilding was destroyed and numerous trees were uprooted. The path became intermittent as the tornado moved northeast of Lennig Road, and it lifted just before reaching the Roanoke River in northern Halifax County. In total: four homes were destroyed, 14 sustained major damage and 6 had minor damage.

The wider storm

Widespread severe weather impacted the area. A strong upper level trough approaching from the west provided strong winds aloft, and a weak upper level low pressure system moved across during the afternoon hours setting off scattered thunderstorms. These storms quickly became severe. In total, there were 6 tornadoes with numerous reports of damaging winds and large hail. Heavy rainfall from these storms also caused scattered flash flooding.

Began near High Rock (36.7825, -79.0945).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 303871. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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