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F2 tornado in Bedford County, Virginia

Tornado April 28, 2002 · Bedford County, Virginia

Rating

10.0 mi

Whole path

150 yd

Path width

Injuries

$6.0M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Bedford County → Campbell County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F2 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F2 meant considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted; the scale paired it with winds of 113–157 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A second tornado developed 8 miles east-southeast of Bedford City in Bedford County and remained on the ground for 5 miles before crossing over into Campbell County. This tornado injured one person, destroyed seven homes, three businesses, and about two dozen farm buildings. The tornado damaged about 129 other homes, 39 businesses, and a tractor trailer. Numerous trees were toppled.

The wider storm

Thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening of the 28th produced two tornadoes, damaging winds, and hail up to golfball size.A tornado formed in Bedford City and traveled east one half mile before dissipating. The storm then produced sporatic wind damage for about the next 7.5 miles or from .5 east-southeast of Bedford City to 8 east-southeast of Bedford City, causing mainly damage to trees and power lines. A second tornado developed 8 miles east-southeast of Bedford City in Bedford County and remained on the ground for 10 miles before lifting about 5.5 miles west-northwest of Rustburg in Campbell County. Sporatic wind damage then occurred from 5.5 west-northwest of Rustburg to Rustburg. These winds destroyed several mobile homes, damaged about two dozen other mobile homes and knocked down trees.Many vehicles had windows broken out by hail in New Castle.Thunderstorm winds downed trees onto Route 40 in Keysville, downed trees in Halifax, snapped a power pole in Danville, downed trees in Clover, and downed trees onto Reed Lane in Willis.

Began near Bedford City (37.2833, -79.4000).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F1 Bedford County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5292418. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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