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F1 tornado in Frederick County, Virginia

Tornado September 17, 2004 · Frederick County, Virginia

Rating

9.0 mi

Path length

250 yd

Path width

Injuries

$1.0M

Damage as recorded

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 250 yards (0.14 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F1 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F1 meant moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken; the scale paired it with winds of 73–112 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 tornado touched down in western Frederick County, Virginia on the 17th. The path of the storm was 9 miles long. It touched down about one mile east of Middletown and Interstate 81. Roof damage was noted to many barns and outbuildings. A large two story brick garage was nearly destroyed when its roof was blown off from strong F1 tornado winds. In the western end of the Stonebrook Farm Subdivision, an estimated 100 oak and other hardwood trees ranging from 18 to 36 inches in diameter topped or snapped 20 to 50 feet up from the base in roughly a 2 block area. One home was completely destroyed and over 100 others damaged due to falling trees.

Began near Middletown (39.0333, -78.2667).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5425749. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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