F1 tornado, Clear Brook to Martinsburg, Virginia, June 16, 1998

1. F040 to 72 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F173 to 112 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2113 to 157 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. F3158 to 206 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. F4207 to 260 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. F5261 to 318 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

F1

Date

June 16, 1998

Touchdown

4:35 PM CDT (21:35 UTC)

Path length

3.5 miles (5.6 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$100,000

Counties

Frederick and Berkeley counties

Touchdown point

39.250, -78.100

Lift-off point

39.300, -78.070

Record number

1206

Like a broken record, severe weather erupted again in northern and western Virginia - exactly one day after thunderstorms pounded many of the same areas. This time around, a cold front aided in triggering the episode, though upper-level wind shear was a major player in destabilizing the atmosphere much like it had done the previous day. Incredibly, the 16th would be the third out of four afternoons that severe weather had occurred in some portion of northern and western Virginia.A comma-shaped line of thunderstorms - indicative of a mesoscale low pressure system - developed by the middle of the afternoon. The comma "head" curled from eastern West Virginia into western Maryland, then formed a line through western and central Virginia. Several tornadoes touched down in the vicinity of the comma head, from extreme northwestern Virginia through eastern West Virginia and northern and western Maryland; along the comma tail, individual cells produced large hail with some damaging wind gusts.Damage to trees and wires occurred in many areas but, overall, was not quite as substantial when compared to that of the 13th. Nevertheless, several trees were uprooted, including one which fell onto an automobile, between Harrisonburg and Broadway (Rockingham Co). Numerous trees were reported down near Craigsville (Augusta Co). Farther east, trees were down in portions of Fauquier, Loudoun, and Prince William Cos. A late storm produced damaging winds across much of Highland Co; numerous trees and wires were knocked down.A small tornado struck in and northeast of Clear Brook (northeast Frederick Co), uprooting at least 7 maple trees, smashing a storm window, flattening a barn, and snapping or uprooting 24 additional trees along Grace Church Road. The parent thunderstorm would continue into eastern West Virginia and western Maryland, producing additional tornadoes. Allegheny Power reported 2300 customers lost electricity in Frederick Co alone. Another small tornado touched down in Lovettsville, causing structural damage at one residence and felling numerous trees in a 200-300 ft. wide path. Straight-line wind damage (mainly to trees) was also noted in other areas of northwestern Loudoun Co.The main severe weather culprit this day was large hail. Hailstones the size of baseballs dented cars, broke vehicle windows, and stripped paint and siding in portions of Madison, Augusta, Albemarle, Greene, and Culpeper Cos. In general, hail ranged from 1 to 2.75 inches in diameter. There were likely dozens of crop fields which sustained losses; a few residential gardens were wiped out by the large hail, which lasted 5 minutes or more in some locations.Lightning also caused some damage. A home was set afire in Loudoun Co, causing an estimated $200 thousand in damage. A security guard at Fort Belvoir (southern Fairfax Co) was shocked while opening a metal door; he was treated and released from the Army community hospital after slight numbness ensued. Other lightning damage was noted in Fredericksburg; one home was struck, sustaining minor damage; there were several instances of personal electronics equipment failures (as reported by a local repair shop).Power outages were widespread; in all, Virginia Power reported approximately 64,000 customers without electricity in northern and western Virginia; Allegheny Power and several rural electric co-operatives reported at least 3,000 additional outages.

The approach of a cold front combined with impressive jet stream energy aloft acted on an unstable low-level atmosphere to produce a severe weather episode across eastern West Virginia for the second time in as many days. The combustible situation produced a mesoscale low pressure system which focused the most substantial severe weather in north-central Maryland and the eastern West Virginia panhandle. The episode featured two small tornadoes and one wind damage event.The main event was a short-lived tornado which tracked through the small community of Swan Pond just east of Martinsburg. In Swan Pond Orchard, the tornado ripped a garage off the back of a home and knocked down eight miniature apple trees. The twister moved through a heavily wooded area, knocking down numerous trees before tracking across an open field where it tore the roof off a barn. It also flipped a trailer, moved a hay wagon, blew out doors to a hangar, and damaged a cinder block outbuilding.This was the second tornado associated with the parent thunderstorm. The first, perhaps a continuation of one that had struck in extreme northern Frederick Co Virginia moments earlier, cut a brief path across extreme southern Berkeley Co near Ridgeway. Several trees were blown down, including one onto a mobile home and two more onto nearby homes. Interestingly, this same storm would spawn three more tornadoes in Washington Co, Maryland, a bit later.In southeastern Jefferson Co, trees were knocked down along federal highway 340 near Harpers Ferry and along state route 9 just east of the Shenandoah River.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 11:03 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 61 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:34 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1998 tornado in VirginiaEvery tornado in Virginia since 1950Warnings in force in Virginia nowThe forecast where you are

14 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.