EF1 tornado in Westmoreland County, Virginia

Tornado February 24, 2016 · Westmoreland County, Virginia

EF1

Rating

30.3 mi

Whole path

400 yd

Path width

Injuries

$9.2M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through King and Queen County → Essex County → Richmond County → Westmoreland County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 400 yards (0.23 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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

Tornado re-intensified as it moved from Richmond county into Westmoreland county, crossing Kings Highway (Route 3) west of Naomi Grove as a high end EF1 tornado. Tornadic winds increased to 100 mph, severely damaging two homes and destroying a mobile home along Kings Highway. The tornado continued to Cople Highway near Mount Holly, severely damaging numerous homes. After crossing Nomini Creek, the tornado crossed Bushfield Road damaging several homes. The tornado then continued northeast along Mount Holly Road, uprooting and snapping trees before moving into the Potomac River.

The wider storm

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

Began near Nomini Grove (38.0339, -76.7668).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Sussex County 3 dead EF1 Mecklenburg County EF1 Middlesex County EF1 Middlesex County EF0 Fluvanna County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 621873. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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