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EF1 tornado in Suffolk (c) County, Virginia

Tornado December 24, 2020 · Suffolk (c) County, Virginia

EF1
Rating
2.2 mi
Path length
200 yd
Path width
$225K
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

A damage survey conducted by the NWS Wakefield office found a path of storm damage consistent with an EF1 tornado, with peak winds estimated to be 95 to 100 mph. The damage began on the south side of Dutch Road in the southwest portion of the City of Suffolk Virginia, and ended along Lummis Road just north of the intersection with Box Elder Road. This tornado caused significant damage to at least six homes along Dutch Road, with shingles torn off roofs, and also damaged a large trailer. Several large trees were uprooted along the damage path. This tornado was a part of the same circulation that dropped a tornado about 7 minutes earlier approximately six miles to the southwest in the vicinity of Corinth Chapel Road in the far southwest portion of the City of Suffolk Virginia.

The wider storm

Scattered severe thunderstorms in advance of a strong cold front produced damaging winds and two tornadoes across portions of eastern and southeast Virginia.

Began near Holland (36.6549, -76.7563).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 934819. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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