EF1 Tornado — Danville (c), Virginia

2018-04-15 · near Danville, Danville (c), Virginia

Event narrative

This is the second segment in Virginia of a tornado that originated west of Pelham near Dusty Lane in Caswell County of North Carolina at 4:51 PM EST. The tornado exited Pittsylvania County and entered into the independent city of Danville at 4:55 PM EST. The tornado damaged or destroyed numerous trees, and several outbuildings were completely destroyed. Minor roof damage occurred to numerous homes as the tornado crossed over the Westover area within the city limits of Danville. Private property damage was assessed at about $2.2 million, while utilities and public works cleanup added another $400,000. By 4:58 PM EST, the tornado exited the city and continued northward back into Pittsylvania County.

Wider weather episode

A strong cold front with a negatively-tilted upper level trough approached southwest Virginia. Plenty of wind shear with modest instability made conditions ripe for large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes. The thunderstorms ahead of the cold front became strong enough to produce six tornadoes across portions of southwest Virginia. While the first tornado originally formed in Caswell County of North Carolina and crossed into Virginia, the other five all touched down in Virginia. These tornadoes caused significant damage within the cities of Danville and Lynchburg and within the town of Elon in Amherst County. It is the first time ever since storm data records began in 1950 that a tornado struck inside the city limits of Lynchburg.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.5839, -79.4769)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 748593. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.