EF3 Tornado — Appomattox, Virginia

2016-02-24 · near Spring Mills, Appomattox, Virginia

Event narrative

A tornado touched down just outside Appomattox county in Campbell county, then traveled 16 miles northeast across Appomattox county. At its peak, this tornado reached EF-3 intensity, which was the first EF-3 tornado or stronger in the month of February in the NWS Blacksburg forecast area. For Appomattox County, this was only the third tornado on record since 1950, and the only tornado rated EF-3 or higher.

The tornado passed just southeast of the town of Appomattox, impacting the community of Evergreen before lifting near Holiday Lake State Park. The fatality and all the injuries occurred in Evergreen, when the tornado was at its greatest intensity.

Thirty structures were completely destroyed and 160 others were damaged, mostly in the Evergreen area. There were also 7 injuries and 1 fatality from this tornado. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted.

Wider weather episode

A strong surface low was located over Western TN in the morning. A wedge was in place over the region and expected to be eroded by a strong low level jet. Bulk shear of 60 knots and storm-relative Helicity in the 400-600 m**2/s**2 range provided the dynamics for this severe event. With this shear in place, thunderstorms developed mainly east of the Blue Ridge, but some were also seen in the New and Roanoke River Valleys. Reports of thunderstorm wind damage and large hail came in from multiple counties across Virginia and North Carolina. Also, two tornados (including a historic EF-3 in Appomattox County) occurred. This was the first EF-3 tornado in the month of February ever recorded in the NWS Blacksburg forecast area.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.2318, -78.8576)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 619440. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.