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EF1 tornado in James City, Virginia

Tornado August 4, 2020 · James City, Virginia

EF1
Rating
0.8 mi
Path length
200 yd
Path width
$100K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 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

The tornado came onshore near the intersection of River Oaks Road and Cypress Isle producing tree damage. The tornado then intensified to 85-90 mph near the intersection of River Oaks Road and Barrets Pointe, where numerous trees were snapped, shingles were blown off roofs, a garage door caved in and a brick gable collapsed. The tornado continued across two fairways of the golf course and entered an area of woods, snapping trees and limbs, before lifting along River Ridge Drive.

The wider storm

The center of Tropical Storm Isaias tracked north just inland of the Middle Atlantic Coast from late Monday night, August 3rd through Tuesday morning, August 4th. Outer bands north and east of the Tropical Storm produced seven tornadoes across portions of eastern and southeast Virginia.

Began near Five Forks (37.2400, -76.8600).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Southampton CountyEF2 Lancaster CountyEF1 Suffolk (c) CountyEF1 Gloucester CountyEF1 Northumberland CountyEF0 Suffolk (c) County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 913554. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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