F1 tornado, Sandy Level to Whitmell, Virginia, March 20, 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

March 20, 1998

Touchdown

3:56 PM EST (20:56 UTC)

Path length

13.0 miles (20.9 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1.0 million

Counties

Henry and Pittsylvania counties

Touchdown point

36.570, -79.750

Lift-off point

36.700, -79.550

Record number

769

Thunderstorms during the late morning and afternoon hours produced a tornado, flash flooding, hail up to golfball size, and damaging winds.From the same storm that produced two tornadoes in North Carolina, a tornado formed about 2 miles west of Sandy Level in extreme southeastern Henry County and travelled northeast about 11 miles before dissipating about 2 miles west of Whitmell in Pittsylvania County. This tornado was generally from 100 to 200 yards wide, with damage in some areas up to 350 yards wide. This tornado damaged or destroyed several vehicles, barns, and outbuildings, and more than 60 residences, damaged two churches, and toppled trees and power lines. Some of the fallen trees blocked roads for a period of time. Just before the tornado formed, trees and power lines were knocked down and large branches of trees were snapped off from the North Carolina border 3 miles west southwest of Sandy Level to 2 miles west of Sandy Level.Heavy rainfall resulted in the flooding of a creek near the Virginia Tech Airport, flooding of Sinking Creek near route 460 about 5 miles east southeast of Pembroke, flooded routes 252 and 606 about 2 miles northeast of Brownsburg, and resulted in the closing of route 11 at two locations about two miles north of Shawsville.The flooding of several creeks and streams in southwest Roanoke City, resulting in road closings and the flooding of several vehicles, a few residences, and two businesses. A portion of the first floor of a hotel was flooded.In Bedford County, West Fork Creek flooded route 24 about a mile east of Stewartsville and several roads in and near Montvale were flooded.In Pulaski County, Peak Creek flooded a road in Pulaski.

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

15 minutes of warning. NWS RNK issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:41 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:25 UTC.

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 11:01 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 Roanoke radar (KFCX), 70 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:57 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

11 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.