Two severe thunderstorms moved through Northern Virginia during the afternoon of the 7th. C.
Every event with a place to put it; 6 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
Two severe thunderstorms moved through Northern Virginia during the afternoon of the 7th. One produced a tornado that moved through Fauquier County, and the other produced high winds that downed trees and power lines across the western suburbs of Washington D.C. In Fauquier County, an F0 tornado touched down 3 miles west of Warrenton. It lifted up and down along a 5 mile path before finally dissipating 2 miles southeast of town. The first location where damage was found was in the vicinity of Waterloo Estates. A large tree several feet in diameter was downed on Stonelea Lane. A three-quarter-mile long path of downed trees up to 50 yards wide was surveyed between Stonelea Lane and Fauquier High School. The tornado lifted as it pushed over the high school, but not before damaging a flag pole and athletic field equipment on school grounds. Several people at the high school saw the funnel and took shelter inside the building. The next touchdown was on Culpeper Street, just south of the center of town. Several tree branches were downed there. The tornado lifted off the ground again, but touched down briefly southeast of town near the intersection of Route 643 (Meetze Road) and Poplar Grove Drive. One final touchdown was observed near the intersection of Route 674 (Lunsford Road) and Route 670 (Auburn Road). Both touchdown locations southeast of town had minor tree damage. It is possible that the tornado touched down one more time in the community of Cassanova, about 5 miles southeast of Warrenton. Minor damage was reported at the intersection of Route 602 and 616, but the damage was cleaned up before it could be surveyed. A funnel cloud was spotted two more times with this storm, once near Brent Town in southeast Fauquier County and finally at Quantico in Prince William County. High winds were also produced by the thunderstorm just north and south of the tornado's path. Trees were downed in two locations along Route 802 (Springs Road) about 2 miles southwest of Warrenton. A microburst of wind up to 70 MPH downed several large trees in a small area of eastern Warrenton between Alexandria Pike and Walker Drive. Leaves and twigs were plastered to buildings and siding was damaged in this area as well. This thunderstorm also produced very heavy downpours and pea sized hail over Warrenton. Street and basement flooding was reported as the storm moved through. Small hail and heavy downpours were also reported in Opal.Another thunderstorm produced high winds across the Virginia suburbs of D.C. In Falls Church, a power line was downed onto a moving pickup truck on Westmoreland Drive. Two people were trapped inside the vehicle until firefighters could cut off electricity to the wires. In Fairfax County, power lines were downed onto Woodland Drive in Tyson's Corner. Trees were downed in Vienna. Cloud to ground lightning started a house fire northeast of Mount Vernon and blew transformers in Merrifield and Herndon. In the city of Fairfax, a townhouse and a house both caught fire after being struck by lightning. Scattered trees were downed as well, including one which fell on a car at the intersection of Arlington Boulevard and Dale Road. A wind gust of 46 MPH was recorded in Reston. In Alexandria, power lines were downed in the western end of the city.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Baltimore/Washington wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 7, 1:15 PM EST, 3 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC 215 PM EDT WED MAY 7 2003 LLVLS DESTABILIZING THIS AFTN. CONVECTION DEVELOPING TO THE W. BEST FRONTOGENETIC FORCING SHOULD FOCUS MOST WIDESPREAD CONVECTION OVR NRN VA/MD. SHEAR INCRSG THRUT THE AFTN AND EVE WITH SVR POSS. LEAD SHORTWV THAT TRIGGERED CONVECTION OVR WV QUICKLY SHEARING OUT THIS MORN WITH CONVECTION RAPIDLY DSPTG. STGR SHORTWV TROF OVR THE TN VLY MOVES QUICKLY NE PROGGED TO BE ROUGHLY ALG THE POTOMAC BY 00Z TNGT. ALSO DOUBLE JET STRUCTURE NOTED IN ETA FCST OVR NRN MD WHIC GREATLY ENHANCES VERT MOTION THIS EVE. STORMS WL BE MOVING...SO HVY RAFL NOT A WIDESPREAD PROB. WK SFC WV PROGGED TO DEVELOP ALG STNRY FNT TO THE N...WITH A WK TROF EXTENDING TO THE S. DEVELOPMENT OF THE SFC WL WV WL START TO INCRS AND BACK LLVL WND FIELD AS EVE APCHS. MUCH OF THE CONVECTION XPCTD TO LIFT TO THE NE OF THE AREA AROUND 03-05Z. GOOD DOWNSLOPING DEVELOPS CLRG OUT MUCH OF THE CLD CVR BY MORN. SHORTWV MOVING BY TO THE N WL STEEPEN LAPSE RATES...BUT DON/T THINK ENOUGH MOISTURE WL BE AVAIL FOR ANY CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT. WL LEAVE FCST DRY FOR NOW...BUT KEEP SILENT 20 POPS ACROSS THE N. SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH UNTIL 700 PM AREAWIDE. MANNING .LONG TERM THU NIGHT THROUGH WED... FNTL BOUNDARY WILL CONT TO BE A FACTOR INTO THE WEEKEND. LOOKS LIKE IT WILL BE N OF THE CWA SAT NGT. WAVES OF MOISTURE AND UPR LVL ENERGY WILL BRING A CHC FOR CONVECTION BOTH FRI AND SAT. CDFNT SWINGS THROUGH ON SUNDAY. AVN HAS BEEN TRENDING FASTER WITH THIS BOUNDARY AND DRYING BEHIND IT...SO HAVE REMOVED THE MENTION OF SHRA FOR MONDAY. GFS TUE AND WED LOOKS DRY. RDH .LWX... DC...NONE. MD...NONE. VA...NONE. WV...NONE. MARINE...NONE.
DCZ001-MDZ002>007-009>011-013-014-016>018-VAZ021-025>031-036>042- 050>057-WVZ048>055-081000- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC 1030 AM EDT WED MAY 7 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR MARYLAND WEST OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY AND EAST OF GARRETT COUNTY...THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA...NORTHERN VIRGINIA...THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL SHENANDOAH VALLEY...AND THE EASTERN PANHANDLE OF WEST VIRGINIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER TODAY ACROSS THE AREA. THUNDERSTORMS AREA EXPECTED TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE INTO THIS EVENING. THUNDERSTORMS ARE FIRST EXPECTED ACROSS THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY THIS AFTERNOON...AND SPREADING EASTWARD TOWARD THE I-95 CORRIDOR BY EVENING. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE POSSIBLE FROM ANY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS LIKELY THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. MANNING
VAZ028-031-072030- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC 351 PM EDT WED MAY 7 2003 ...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS MOVING THROUGH THE NORTHERN SHENANDOAH VALLEY... AT 351 PM EDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM 2 MILES SOUTHEAST OF ROCK ENON SPRINGS TO 3 MILES SOUTH OF HIGH VIEW MANOR TO 10 MILES SOUTHWEST OF STEPHENS CITY... MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH. THESE STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WIND GUSTS TO 50 MPH. THE COMMUNITIES OF BERRYVILLE...STEPHENS CITY AND WINCHESTER WILL BE AFFECTED BY THESE STORMS THROUGH 430 PM EDT. RESIDENTS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD REMAIN ALERT IN CASE WARNINGS ARE ISSUED. MANNING
WVZ053-072100- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC 432 PM EDT WED MAY 7 2003 ...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS APPROACHING SOUTHERN JEFFERSON COUNTY... AT 432 PM EDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM 4 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SUMMIT POINT TO 8 MILES SOUTHWEST OF RIPPON...MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH. THESE STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WIND GUSTS TO 50 MPH. THE COMMUNITIES OF CHARLES TOWN AND RANSON WILL BE AFFECTED BY THESE STORMS THROUGH 500 PM EDT. RESIDENTS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD REMAIN ALERT IN CASE WARNINGS ARE ISSUED. MANNING
The Sterling radar (KLWX), 41 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:22 UTC.
9 thunderstorm wind, 3 lightning, 2 funnel cloud, 1 tornado, 1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
Power lines downed trees and caused minor structural damage in and around Warrenton.
A tornado downed trees and caused minor structural damage in and around Warrenton.
Trees were downed at the intersection of Route 802 and Route 681.
Street and basement flooding was reported.
Unknown damage was reported at the intersection of Route 602 and 616. This could be another brief touchdown of the Warrenton tornado.
A funnel cloud was spotted near Brent Town.
Trees and wires were downed.
Trees were downed.
A townhouse was set on fire by a lightning strike.
A power line was downed onto a moving vehicle on Westmoreland Drive.
Wires were downed onto Woodland Drive.
A tree fell onto a car on Arlington Boulevard.
Power lines were downed in the western portion of the city.
A house caught fire after being struck by lightning.
A house fire was started by a lightning strike.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Virginia in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Virginia, 2003Warnings in Virginia, May 2003
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: 5369574, 5369575, 5369576, 5369577, 5370257, 5370258, 5370259, 5370260, 5370261, 5370262, 5370330, 5370331, 5370332, 5370333, 5370334, 5370335.