F0 tornado, Gladys, Virginia, April 17, 2000

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

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

2. F173 to 112 mph

   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

F0

Date

April 17, 2000

Touchdown

3:52 PM EDT (19:52 UTC)

Path length

0.1 miles (0.2 km)

Path width

40 yards (37 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Campbell County

Touchdown point

37.170, -79.080

Lift-off point

37.170, -79.080

Record number

176

Thunderstorms during the late morning through evening of the 17th generated a tornado, and produced hail up to one and three quarter inches in diameter, damaging winds, flash flooding, and lightning damage.A tornado briefly touched down in a field in Gladys. No damage was reported.Hail drifts were up to 12 inches deep on the north side of Christiansburg in Montgomery County Lightning struck a house 2 miles north of Altavista, starting a fire that burned to house to the ground. A second house in Brookneal was struck by lightning starting a fire that caused minor damage.Heavy thunderstorm rains caused Little Ivy Creek to flood from 1/2 mile east of Vesta to 5 miles east of Vesta, and caused Poplar Road and Alleghany Springs Road to flood 2 miles west of Shawsville. Heavy rain flooded and closed the following; numerous streets in the City of Roanoke, School Board Road in Rocky Mount, Snake Creek Bridge on Route 58 five miles southeast of Hillsville, and McCoy Road in Christiansburg. Heavy rain flooded Spoon Creek onto Route 58, closing it, 2 miles east of Stuart, caused a mudslide closing Route 759 four miles southwest of Sydnorsville, flooded small streams in Rocky Mt, and flooded and closed roads in southeastern Rockbridge County, and across Charlotte County.Heavy rain caused minor small stream flooding of Broad Run onto Route 618 in several places from 4 miles east of New Castle to 4 miles south of New Castle, and Sinking Creek onto Route 608 in Maybrook.After flooding earlier in the afternoon in Roanoke County and the City of Roanoke, additional heavy rain flooded roads in Vinton and in the City of Roanoke, closing some. Carvins and Masons Creeks flooded in northern Roanoke County, and Tinker Creek and Glade Creek also flooded in Roanoke County and in the City of RoanokeThunderstorm winds on the afternoon of the 17th blew out windows in a house in Penhook and downed trees and power lines in central Wythe County.Thunderstorm winds also damaged houses, cars, mobile homes, barns, and downed trees and power lines in southern Franklin County.

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

29 minutes of warning. NWS RNK issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:23 UTC, 29 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:00 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 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 live radar over the trackEvery 2000 tornado in VirginiaEvery tornado in Virginia since 1950Warnings in force in Virginia nowThe forecast where you are

1 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.