A fire ignited on the base of Afton Mountain in extreme Northern Nelson County around 3:30 PM EDT on the 2nd. It quickly spread up the face of the mountain, driven by strong west winds.
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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 episode as NWS LWX wrote it up.
A fire ignited on the base of Afton Mountain in extreme Northern Nelson County around 3:30 PM EDT on the 2nd. It quickly spread up the face of the mountain, driven by strong west winds. Dead vegetation from a winter ice storm and less than normal precipitation led to very dry conditions and this helped to fuel the fire. Nearly 200 firefighters, 5 buldozers, a hummer, and two helicopters worked through the night to stop the progress of the blaze which threatened several homes on the top of the mountain. The team was able to bring the fire under control by daybreak on the 3rd, and keep all but one roof of a home from catching fire. The fire burned over 400 acres before being extinguished.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
Fire on Afton Mountain burned over 400 acres
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Virginia in 1999Every state in 1999This day in weather historyWarnings in Virginia, April 1999
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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5695331.