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Three confirmed tornadoes touched down in the Northern Neck on Thursday

Posted at 4:09 PM, Jun 19, 2015
and last updated 2015-06-19 19:58:01-04

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.
 
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