F0 tornado, Keene to Antioch, Virginia, May 9, 2003

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

May 9, 2003

Touchdown

2:20 PM EDT (18:20 UTC)

Path length

15.0 miles (24.1 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$10,000

Counties

Albemarle and Fluvanna counties

Touchdown point

37.870, -78.570

Lift-off point

37.730, -78.450

Record number

1149

A tornadic thunderstorm pushed southeast across Augusta and Albemarle counties during the afternoon of the 9th. The storm left two tornadoes, large hail, and wind damage in its wake. In Augusta County, a tornado touched down in the community of Verona where it downed a 195-foot radio tower onto Mid Valley Lane. Trees were also downed onto a nearby railroad track. The tornado lifted up and down as it pushed southeast toward Hermitage, leaving a discontinuous 50 to 100 yard wide damage path. The F0 twister damaged three barns at the intersection of routes 254 and 608 just northeast of Hermitage. Finally, after 5 miles the tornado lifted for the last time right after downing trees in the community of Hermitage. This same storm produced high winds which downed trees in New Hope and near Mt. Solon. Small hail was also reported near Mt. Solon. In Albemarle County, a funnel cloud was spotted 3 miles northwest of South Garden along Route 29. This funnel touched down in the community of Keene where it felled trees onto roads, homes, power lines, and railroad tracks. The F0 tornado lifted up and down as it tracked across 5 miles of Albemarle County between Keene and Scottsville. The discontinuous damage path was 50 to 100 yards wide. About 40 large trees were downed onto Route 6 just northeast of Scottsville before the tornado crossed into Fluvanna County. In addition, the storm dropped large hail along the path of the tornado. Golfball sized hail pounded cars at the intersection of routes 6 and 20 in Scottsville. Marble sized hail was reported in Keene. This storm also produced a downburst of high winds over a large area of southwest Albemarle County south of the tornado's path. Trees were downed inside a 3 to 5 mile wide swath stretching from Covesville to just south of Scottsville. Downed trees were reported on the following highways: 6, 29, 626, 627, and 715. A tree was also downed onto a home in the Esmont area. Marble sized hail was reported in Covesville. In Nelson County, this same downburst knocked over trees just north of Faber along Route 6.

A weak tornado touched down near Keene and produced a discontinuous damage path toward the southeast into Fluvanna County.

Numerous trees downed or sheared off by F0 tornado in southwest Fluvanna county. The tornado moved from Albemarle county into Fluvanna county.

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

5 minutes of warning. NWS LWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:15 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:00 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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:12 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.

Charlottesville (CHO), 38 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 158 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:17 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 2003 tornado in VirginiaEvery tornado in Virginia since 1950Warnings in force in Virginia nowThe forecast where you are

30 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.