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EF0 tornado in Campbell County, Virginia

Tornado February 24, 2016 · Campbell County, Virginia

EF0

Rating

17.3 mi

Whole path

125 yd

Path width

Death

Injuries

$11.2M

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 125 yards (0.07 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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 touched down in Campbell County, downing several trees. It only remained in the county for a brief time before passing into Appomattox County where it strengthened to an EF-3.

The wider storm

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.

Began near Mike (37.2283, -78.8641).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Patrick County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 620725. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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