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EF1 tornado in Grayson County, Virginia

Tornado October 23, 2017 · Grayson County, Virginia

EF1

Rating

0.6 mi

Path length

150 yd

Path width

$100K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 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

A brief tornado touched down at 4:53PM (LST) in Grayson County near the Town of Providence on Twin Pond Lane. The tornado would travel about a third of a mile before lifting over Highway 94 near Mandolin Lane after being on the ground for only a minute. . Multiple residencies received some damage with one house being totaled by a tree falling through it and a barn being knocked down. Numerous trees were snapped or knocked over. No injuries were reported. The maximum path width was 150 yards and peak intensity was consistent with EF1 (86-110 MPH) damage.

The wider storm

An upper level storm system moving toward the region from the south would interact with a closed upper level low moving through the Tennessee Valley. At the surface, a fast moving cold front moved into the region where a highly sheared environment was in place. These conditions triggered multiple severe thunderstorms and a two tornadoes in southwest Virginia.

Began near Providence (36.7005, -81.0214).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Pulaski County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 724797. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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