Tornado Near Home
I guess I need to write about this before it becomes "old news."
Last Monday (Apr. 28), the same day the beautiful yet destructive EF-3 wedge tornado tore through Suffolk, VA, about 130 miles to the east, an unexpected tornado hit the town of Virgilina. This town is in the southeastern part of my county, only about 20 minutes away from my house, and I drove through there every time I came home from NC State. It should also be noted that they are at the "triple point" of three NWS offices (Blacksburg, Wakefield, and Raleigh), so while adequate, radar coverage isn't superb. On top of that, this particular storm did not look tornadic at all, and rotation was not evident to me with a quick glance at radar velocities. I think this quote from the Gazette-Virginian shows that the NWS had the same predicament, and no warning was issued:
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Wilkins said Virgilina Volunteer Fire Department President Ralph Murray called the National Weather Service in Blacksburg immediately to tell them a tornado had just touched down in Virgilina.“They told him there hadn’t been anything on radar to indicate a tornado, and Ralph said, ‘“Well then you need to come down here,”’ Wilkins said.
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After the survey, it was rated an EF-1. Luckily there were no injuries. The full report (with radar images and damage photos) can be found at this link. I haven't had any time lately to do my own assessment of the synoptic and mesoscale setup... maybe eventually. Another example of how mother nature isn't always completely predictable.
***A full wrap up of Orlando and the qual (which I'm halfway through) will be posted sometime soon.***
Last Monday (Apr. 28), the same day the beautiful yet destructive EF-3 wedge tornado tore through Suffolk, VA, about 130 miles to the east, an unexpected tornado hit the town of Virgilina. This town is in the southeastern part of my county, only about 20 minutes away from my house, and I drove through there every time I came home from NC State. It should also be noted that they are at the "triple point" of three NWS offices (Blacksburg, Wakefield, and Raleigh), so while adequate, radar coverage isn't superb. On top of that, this particular storm did not look tornadic at all, and rotation was not evident to me with a quick glance at radar velocities. I think this quote from the Gazette-Virginian shows that the NWS had the same predicament, and no warning was issued:
-----
Wilkins said Virgilina Volunteer Fire Department President Ralph Murray called the National Weather Service in Blacksburg immediately to tell them a tornado had just touched down in Virgilina.“They told him there hadn’t been anything on radar to indicate a tornado, and Ralph said, ‘“Well then you need to come down here,”’ Wilkins said.
-----
After the survey, it was rated an EF-1. Luckily there were no injuries. The full report (with radar images and damage photos) can be found at this link. I haven't had any time lately to do my own assessment of the synoptic and mesoscale setup... maybe eventually. Another example of how mother nature isn't always completely predictable.
***A full wrap up of Orlando and the qual (which I'm halfway through) will be posted sometime soon.***
posted by Andrew at 8:52 PM
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