High Wind in Virginia, October 20, 1997

Name: High Wind in Virginia, October 20, 1997
Start: 1997-10-20T10:30
End: 1997-10-20T10:30
Location: Virginia

October 20, 1997 · NWS RNK · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 high wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

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The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Alleghany / Clifton Forge / Covington

When: October 20, 10:30 AM EST
Where: Alleghany / Clifton Forge / Covington forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Coordinates: 37.791, -80.000 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A logger was killed when a very localized area of high winds caused a tree to fall on him. The tree that fell was not being cut down and other workers attempts to alert the man failed. The very freak accident occurred about 2 miles south of Hematite in Alleghany County.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
High Wind, Alleghany / Clifton Forge / Covington	1997-10-20	20	Male	Under Tree	Direct

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Virginia in 1997 Every state in 1997 This day in weather history Warnings in Virginia, October 1997

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5622108.