RICHMOND, Va. — A severe thunderstorm developed near Newland and Tappahannock at 8:47 pm Thursday. At the time, the main threats were hail and damaging winds. There were signs of weak rotation on doppler radar. Within three minutes, the National Weather Service in Wakefield issued a tornado warning for west central Richmond county and central Essex counties. The area of rotation was located near Tappahannock and tracking southeastward.
By 9:15 pm, the tornado warning was extended to include southeastern Richmond and Essex counties. At 9:37 pm, the tornado warning was expanded to include Lancaster county and northwestern Middlesex county.
The National Weather Service conducted a damage survey and found damage patterns suggesting three short-lived EF-0 tornadoes. Two occurred in Richmond county, and one occurred in Lancaster county.
Eyewitness reports included:
- siting of a wall cloud and funnel cloud east of Tappahannock
- possible tornado just southeast of Sharps. A trained spotter was on Highway 17 south of Tappahannock and looking southeast across the river
- funnel cloud reported near Mollusk
Damage reports included:
- numerous trees down in Warsaw and Newland
- trees down blocking Highway 360 near the bridge in Naylors
- trees and power lines down in Morattico, Merry Point, Weems (Lancaster county)
- trees and power lines down along Waterview Rd in Germans Corner (Richmond county)
Rotation in the storm began to dissipate around 10 pm. A severe thunderstorm warning was in effect for the remainder of the storm as it tracked southeastward into Mathews county.
Here is the official report from the National Weather Service:
A SURVEY OF THE DAMAGE IN RICHMOND AND LANCASTER COUNTIES REVEALED THAT 3 EF-0 TORNADOES OCCURRED WITH THE STORM THAT MOVED SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE AREA THURSDAY NIGHT...JUNE 18TH. THE STORM TRACKED ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER REMAINING OVER RICHMOND AND LANCASTER COUNTIES. THE FOLLOWING IS A SUMMARY OF THE EVENT. EVENT- EF-0 TORNADOES LOCATION...THE STORM FIRST DEVELOPED WEST OF NEWLAND AND QUICKLY INTENSIFIED MOVING SOUTHEAST. TORNADOES WERE DETERMINED TO HAVE TOUCHED DOWN IN 3 SEPARATE LOCATIONS ALONG THE PATH OF THE STORM. THE FIRST TORNADO BEGAN 2 MILES WEST OF GERMAN'S CORNER IN RICHMOND COUNTY TRACKING SOUTHEAST FOR 6 MILES PASSING NEAR NAYLORS BEACH AND CROSSING HIGHWAY 360. PEAK WINDS WERE BETWEEN 70 TO 80 MPH. THE SECOND TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN JUST NORTH AND NORTHEAST OF SHARPS NEAR IVONDALE IN RICHMOND COUNTY. THE TORNADO TRACKED ALONG FARNHAM CREEK ROAD CROSSING HALES POINT ROAD AND SIMONSON ROAD. THIS TORNADO TRACKED AROUND 2.5 TO 3 MILES UPROOTING AND SNAPPING TREES WITH AROUND 70 MPH WINDS. THE THIRD AND LAST TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN LANCASTER COUNTY NEAR MOLLUSK TRACKING SOUTHEAST TO OTTOMAN. THIS WAS THE WEAKEST OF THE THREE TORNADOES REMAINING MOSTLY IN THE TREES TOPS AND BOUNCING AS IT TRACKED SOUTHEAST FOR ABOUT 4 MILES. THE TORNADO PARALLELED RIVER ROAD EVENTUALLY CROSSING RIVER ROAD NEAR OTTOMAN. WINDS WERE AROUND 65 TO 70 MPH. TORNADO ONE ESTIMATED TIME...8:53 PM TO 9:08 PM EDT MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING...EF-0 ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED...70 TO 80 MPH MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH...100 YARDS PATH LENGTH...6 MILES BEGINNING LAT/LON...38.00N / 76.88W ENDING LAT/LON...37.95N / 76.80W * FATALITIES...0 * INJURIES...0 * DAMAGE DETAILS...HARDWOOD TREES UPROOTED AND SNAPPED. TORNADO TWO ESTIMATED TIME...9:28 PM TO 9:38 PM EDT MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING...EF-0 ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED...60 TO 70 MPH MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH...50 YARDS PATH LENGTH...3 MILES BEGINNING LAT/LON...37.85N / 76.67W ENDING LAT/LON...37.83N / 76.62W * FATALITIES...0 * INJURIES...0 * DAMAGE DETAILS...HARDWOOD TREES UPROOTED AND SNAPPED. TORNADO THREE ESTIMATED TIME...9:51 PM TO 10:06 PM EDT MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING...EF-0 ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED...60 TO 70 MPH MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH...50 YARDS PATH LENGTH...4 MILES BEGINNING LAT/LON...37.74N / 76.55W ENDING LAT/LON...37.69N / 76.52W * FATALITIES...0 * INJURIES...0 * DAMAGE DETAILS...HARDWOOD TREES UPROOTED AND SNAPPED. THERE WAS ADDITIONAL STRAIGHT LINE WIND DAMAGE NEAR NEWLAND...IN WARSAW...MERRY POINT AND NORTH OF WEEMS. NOTE...THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT(S) AND PUBLICATION IN NWS STORM DATA.
