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EF3 tornado in Franklin County, Virginia

Tornado April 19, 2019 · Franklin County, Virginia

EF3

Rating

8.1 mi

Path length

250 yd

Path width

$650K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 250 yards (0.14 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 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 tornado touched down just to the north of Oak Level. It then moved northeastward, significantly damaging three structures while heavily damaging or destroying ten outbuildings. The tornado reached a peak intensity of EF-3 near Windy Ridge Road and again near Sealtest Lane. The tornado eventually dissipated to the east of Henry Fork, four miles southeast of Rocky Mount, just short of Doe Run Road. Two individuals received minor injuries due to the tornado. One of the fallen trees landed on a house and a car. Damage values are estimated.

The wider storm

A strong area of low pressure moved from the Mississippi Valley into the Tennessee Valley. The atmosphere in advance of this system was ripe for the development of rotating thunderstorms. Some of these storms produced damaging winds. However, two thunderstorms increased in enough rotational intensity to generate tornadoes. An EF3 Tornado occurred in Franklin County and an EF1 tornado occurred in Bedford County.

Began near Snydersville (36.8564, -79.8906).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Bedford County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 820690. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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