EF3 Tornado — Essex, Virginia

2016-02-24 · near Howertons, Essex, Virginia

Event narrative

Tornado tracked from King and Queen county into Essex county as an intensifying, high end EF1 severely damaging several homes along Dunbrook Road. The tornado continued to intensify crossing Perkins Road as an EF2 before hitting Kino Road as an EF3 tornado. Along Kino Road, all the homes in the path including three modular homes, two double wide mobile homes and one single wide mobile home were completely destroyed with most of the debris carried away. Tree damage was severe and winds were estimated at 140 to 150 mph based on damage. Everyone impacted by the tornado along Kino Road suffered injuries, some life threatening. After leaving the Kino Road area, the tornado crossed Scotts Mill Road just west of Tappahannock as a high end EF2 tornado causing severe tree damage, severely damaging numerous homes and causing the collapse of several garages and outbuildings. The tornado passed just west of downtown Tappahannock, crossing Highway 17 as an EF1 tornado and severely damaging homes on Tuckaway Lane and Highway 17. The tornado then crossed the Rappahannock River and into Richmond county.

Wider weather episode

Scattered severe thunderstorms in advance of a cold front produced damaging winds, large hail, and six tornadoes across portions of central and eastern Virginia.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.8285, -76.9681)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 621868. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.