F1 tornado, Ararat, Virginia, September 29, 1999

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

September 29, 1999

Touchdown

6:31 PM EDT (22:31 UTC)

Path length

0.2 miles (0.3 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$60,000

County

Patrick County

Touchdown point

36.570, -80.500

Lift-off point

36.570, -80.500

Record number

978

Thunderstorms on the 29th produced damaging winds, flash flooding, and two tornadoes.Thunderstorm winds downed 10 trees at the intersection of State Route 653 and U.S Route 58, eleven miles southeast of Hillsville, downed several trees 2.5 miles south of Ararat, downed several trees and broke off large tree limbs from 4 miles east-northeast of Ararat to 4.5 miles east-northeast of Ararat, downed large trees in Halifax, including a tree that closed Route 501 southbound for two hours, and downed trees and damaged a mobile home 4 miles south of New Canton.Heavy rain flooded Route 707, five miles southeast of Chatham, 6 creeks in western Campbell County, closing several roads, flooded and closed Route 460 one mile north of Concord, stranding a motorist, numerous small streams and roads in Amherst County, several roads in the City of Lynchburg, forcing them to be closed, flooded Mill Stream Bridge in Gretna, and several streams in western Appomattox County, closing several roads.A thunderstorm spawned two tornadoes in Patrick County, during the early evening of the 29th.The first tornado formed 2.2 miles south-southeast of Ararat at 1731 EST. It was on the ground for about a quarter of a mile before dissipating at near 1732 EST. The path was 50 yards wide. This tornado tore off part of the roof of a tobacco curing shelter, uprooted several trees, and broke off large tree limbs. One large tree fell on and destroyed a mobile home. Maximum wind speeds were estimated at about 80 miles an hour.The second tornado formed 2.5 miles southeast of Ararat at 1734 EST, and travelled northeast for nearly a mile, to 2.5 miles east-southeast of Ararat before dissipating at 1736. This tornado damaged the roof of a house, tore shingles and a gutter off of a church, damaged out buildings and a barn, uprooted several trees, broke off large tree limbs, and damaged some tobacco crops. This tornado was 50 yards wide and maximum winds were also estimated at about 80 miles an hour.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:58 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.

Mount_airy/Surry_county_aprt (MWK), 13 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 54 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:33 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 1999 tornado in VirginiaEvery tornado in Virginia since 1950Warnings in force in Virginia nowThe forecast where you are

6 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.