Tornado, Lee
- When
- May 26, 2:35 AM EST to 2:37 AM EST
- Where
- Lee County, 3 mi ENE of Rose Hill
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 0.5 mi
- Path width
- 50 yd
- Property damage
- $12,000
- Reported by
- NWS STORM SURVEY
- Coordinates
- 36.683, -83.317
Tornado in Virginia, May 26, 2004
An F0 tornado touched down in Lee County three miles east northeast of Rose Hill. 5 miles long and 25 yards wide.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $12,000
- 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.
What happened
The episode as NWS MRX wrote it up.
An F0 tornado touched down in Lee County three miles east northeast of Rose Hill. The tornado path length was .5 miles long and 25 yards wide. A shed was slightly damaged and some trees were reported down in association with the tornado.
What forecasters said that day
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 Morristown, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 25, 8:15 PM EST, 6 hours 20 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 25, 8:15 PM EST, 6 hours 20 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 915 PM EDT TUE MAY 25 2004 .DISCUSSION... CURRENT SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS A LARGE MESOSCALE CONVECTIVE COMPLEX ACROSS THE OHIO RIVER VALLEY...WHICH DEVELOPED AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT OVER THE MID MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. THIS COMPLEX SHOULD CONTINUE TO MOVE EAST OVERNIGHT ACROSS EASTERN KY AND SOUTHWEST VA INTO A MODERATELY UNSTABLE AIRMASS ACROSS THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA. THINK THAT OUTFLOW FROM THIS COMPLEX WILL LIKELY GENERATE ADDITIONAL SCATTERED CONVECTION FURTHER SOUTH ACROSS THE REST OF THE FORECAST AREA...WITH A FEW TSTORMS BECOMING SEVERE WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. HAVE ALREADY UPDATED THE FORECAST TO RAISE POPS ACROSS SOUTHWEST VA AND NORTHEAST TN...REMOVED EVENING WORDING...AND TWEAKED TEMPS A LITTLE. && .MRX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NC...NONE. TN...NONE. VA...NONE. && DMG
Hazardous weather outlook, May 25, 8:30 PM EST, 6 hours 5 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 930 PM EDT TUE MAY 25 2004 NCZ060-061-TNZ012>018-035>047-067>074-081>087-098>102-VAZ001-002-005- 006-008-261000- ANDERSON-BLEDSOE-BLOUNT SMOKY MTN-BRADLEY-CAMPBELL-CHEROKEE- CLAIBORNE-CLAY-COCKE SMOKY MTN-EAST POLK-GRAINGER-HAMBLEN-HAMILTON- HANCOCK-HAWKINS-JEFFERSON-JOHNSON-KNOX-LEE-LOUDON-MARION-MCMINN- MEIGS-MORGAN-NORTH SEVIER-NORTHWEST CARTER-NORTHWEST COCKE- NORTHWEST GREENE-NORTHWEST MONROE-NW BLOUNT-RHEA-ROANE-RUSSELL- SCOTT TN-SCOTT VA-SEQUATCHIE-SEVIER SMOKY MTN-SOUTHEAST CARTER- SOUTHEAST GREENE-SOUTHEAST MONROE-SULLIVAN-UNICOI-UNION- WASHINGTON TN-WASHINGTON VA-WEST POLK-WISE- 930 PM EDT (830 PM CDT) TUE MAY 25 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST TENNESSEE...SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA AND EXTREME SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA. .DAY ONE (TONIGHT)... THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVERNIGHT. A COMPLEX OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE OHIO RIVER VALLEY THIS EVENING WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE EAST ACROSS SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA AND NORTHEAST TENNESSEE. SOME THUNDERSTORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE OVERNIGHT (MAINLY ACROSS SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA AND NORTHEAST TENNESSEE) BRINGING THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGING WINDS..LARGE HAIL AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN (WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY)... UPPER LEVEL RIDGE FLATTENS OUT WEDNESDAY AND STORM TRACK SHIFTS SOUTH. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOP FARTHER SOUTH INTO THE TENNESSEE RIVER VALLEY AND SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS. THE UPPER LEVEL WINDS WILL MOVE FROM WEST TO EAST AND WILL INCREASE THE CHANCE FOR FOR SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT ACROSS EASTERN TENNESSEE AND SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA AND ALSO MOVE THUNDERSTORMS WHICH DEVELOP ACROSS THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY EASTWARD INTO EAST TENNESSEE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY. PLEASE STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/MRX.
The radar
The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 58 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 07:35 UTC.
Event by event
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornado in Missouri, May 26, 2004
- Damaging Wind in Tennessee, May 26, 2004
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Kentucky, May 26, 2004
- Tornado in Kansas, May 26, 2004
- Tornado and Hail in Oklahoma, May 26, 2004
- Damaging Wind in Tennessee, May 26, 2004
- Hail in Texas, May 26, 2004
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Illinois, May 26, 2004
- Flash Flood in New York, May 26 to 27, 2004
- Flash Flood in Pennsylvania, May 26, 2004
- Damaging Winds in Kentucky, May 26 to 27, 2004
- Damaging Winds in Kentucky, May 26 to 27, 2004
More
Every storm in Virginia in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Virginia, 2004Warnings in Virginia, May 2004
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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5395255.