EF2 tornado in Chesterfield County, Virginia

Tornado September 17, 2018 · Chesterfield County, Virginia

EF2

Rating

7.5 mi

Path length

350 yd

Path width

Death

Injury

$1.0M

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 350 yards (0.20 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

Beginning in Winterpock, the tornado started as a weak EF1 before moving into a residential area north of River Road. The tornado reached peak intensity (EF2) when it crossed Hull Street Road. At this point, it took off the roof of Gabe's and damaged several other businesses. After crossing Hull Street Road, it destroyed the Old Dominion Warehouse, where one person was killed and one was injured. It remained an EF2 until about Gregwood Drive, completely destroying trees and damaging other structures. It then quickly weakened to an EF0 as it reached Powhite Parkway, and continued as an EF0 toward Route 60 in Bon Air.

The wider storm

Scattered severe thunderstorms associated with tropical cyclone Florence produced damaging winds and ten tornadoes across portions of central and south central Virginia.

Began near Beach (37.4065, -77.6107).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Hanover County EF1 Chesterfield County EF1 Richmond (c) County EF0 Mecklenburg County EF0 Powhatan County EF0 Richmond (c) County EF0 Richmond (c) County EF0 Richmond (c) County EF0 Richmond (c) County EF0 Hanover County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 786922. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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