Tornadoes · United States · Virginia

2004 tornadoes in Virginia

83 tornadoes touched down in Virginia in 2004, 652 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2003 2005 The whole country in 2004

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.

Every tornado in Virginia in 2004

May 2 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 2	7:27 PM EDT	F1	Madison	4.3	150			$10,000
May 2	10:30 PM EDT	F1	King and Queen	1.0	100			$30,000

May 7 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 7	7:51 PM EDT	F1	King George	3.0	300			$10,000

May 25 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 25	6:49 PM EDT	F0	Loudoun	0.5	50			$1,000
May 25	11:25 PM EDT	F1	Lancaster	0.1	10			$20,000

May 26 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 26	3:35 AM EDT	F0	Lee	0.5	50	$10,000
May 26	5:04 PM EDT	F1	Lee	1.5	50	$30,000
May 26	5:45 PM EDT	F0	Scott	0.5	50	$20,000

June 11 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 11	4:12 PM EDT	F0	Albemarle	0.2	50			$3,000
June 11	7:16 PM EDT	F0	Brunswick	0.5	50			$10,000

June 25 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 25	12:25 PM EDT	F1	Brunswick	3.0	50	$10,000
June 25	2:30 PM EDT	F1	Southampton	0.3	30	$2,000
June 25	2:50 PM EDT	F1	City of Suffolk	0.3	30	$2,000
June 25	3:10 PM EDT	F0	City of Suffolk	0.3	30	$2,000

August 12 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 12	4:38 PM EDT	F1	City of Danville	1.0	587		1	$780,000

August 14 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 14	5:55 PM EDT	F0	City of Chesapeake	0.1	15			$10,000

August 30 14 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 30	12:10 PM EDT	F0	Dinwiddie	2.0	50	$10,000
August 30	1:10 PM EDT	F0	Nottoway	1.0	50	$10,000
August 30	1:18 PM EDT	F0	Surry	4.0	50	$100,000
August 30	1:33 PM EDT	F0	City of Hopewell	1.0	50	$10,000
August 30	1:35 PM EDT	F0	Chesterfield	7.0	50	$10,000
August 30	1:42 PM EDT	F0	James City	3.0	50	$10,000
August 30	2:40 PM EDT	F0	James City	0.2	20	$10,000
August 30	3:30 PM EDT	F0	City of Richmond	0.5	50	$10,000
August 30	3:32 PM EDT	F0	York	0.5	50	$10,000
August 30	3:33 PM EDT	F0	City of Hampton	0.2	20	$10,000
August 30	3:55 PM EDT	F0	York	1.7	40	$10,000
August 30	4:00 PM EDT	F0	York	0.1	40	$10,000
August 30	4:15 PM EDT	F0	New Kent	6.0	50	$10,000
August 30	4:33 PM EDT	F0	New Kent	4.0	40	$100,000

September 8 14 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
September 8	2:05 PM EDT	F0	King William	1.0	100	$10,000
September 8	2:20 PM EDT	F2	Fauquier	1.5	200	$500,000
September 8	2:30 PM EDT	F1	Fauquier	0.8	100	$10,000
September 8	2:57 PM EDT	F1	Culpeper	0.3	100	$50,000
September 8	3:25 PM EDT	F1	Caroline	17.8	300	$40,000
September 8	4:18 PM EDT	F0	Stafford	5.5	150	$300,000
September 8	4:30 PM EDT	F0	Buckingham	0.8	33
September 8	5:05 PM EDT	F0	Fauquier	0.3	100	$2,000
September 8	5:30 PM EDT	F0	Clarke	0.3	50	$1,000
September 8	5:40 PM EDT	F0	Amelia	0.5	50	$2,000
September 8	5:40 PM EDT	F0	Fluvanna	1.0	100	$10,000
September 8	6:40 PM EDT	F0	Orange	0.3	50	$10,000
September 8	7:15 PM EDT	F0	Chesterfield	0.5	50	$2,000
September 8	8:20 PM EDT	F0	City of Richmond	0.7	50	$10,000

September 17 38 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
September 17	12:04 PM EDT	F2	Henry	8.8	440	4	$54 million
September 17	1:12 PM EDT	F2	Bedford	3.0	300
September 17	2:24 PM EDT	F0	Pittsylvania	0.3	25
September 17	2:54 PM EDT	F1	Campbell	1.9	100
September 17	2:59 PM EDT	F1	Campbell	3.0	75
September 17	3:44 PM EDT	F0	Albemarle	0.3	50
September 17	4:02 PM EDT	F3	Fauquier	9.0	200	2	$250,000
September 17	4:05 PM EDT	F2	Greene	5.0	100	3	$3.0 million
September 17	4:08 PM EDT	F1	Amelia	1.5	60		$10,000
September 17	4:10 PM EDT	F0	Warren	0.5	50
September 17	4:12 PM EDT	F2	Madison	8.0	400		$200,000
September 17	4:12 PM EDT	F2	Fauquier	8.0	150		$500,000
September 17	4:15 PM EDT	F1	Caroline	1.5	200		$30,000
September 17	4:24 PM EDT	F2	Fauquier	13.0	200		$750,000
September 17	4:29 PM EDT	F0	Spotsylvania	2.0	75
September 17	4:36 PM EDT	F0	City of Fredericksburg	0.5	50
September 17	4:39 PM EDT	F2	Frederick	5.0	125		$250,000
September 17	4:42 PM EDT	F1	Stafford	6.0	100		$10,000
September 17	4:50 PM EDT	F1	Goochland	1.0	100		$3,000
September 17	4:56 PM EDT	F1	Louisa	1.5	50		$20,000
September 17	4:59 PM EDT	F0	Henrico	0.5	150		$10,000
September 17	5:05 PM EDT	F0	Spotsylvania	0.1	50
September 17	5:15 PM EDT	F1	Orange	3.0	100		$150,000
September 17	5:20 PM EDT	F1	Loudoun	12.0	200		$500,000
September 17	5:26 PM EDT	F2	Prince William	4.0	250		$1.0 million
September 17	5:28 PM EDT	F2	Orange	7.0	100		$70,000
September 17	5:36 PM EDT	F1	Culpeper	0.5	75		$850,000
September 17	5:37 PM EDT	F1	Frederick	9.0	250	2	$1.0 million
September 17	5:40 PM EDT	F0	Hanover	1.0	50		$2,000
September 17	5:40 PM EDT	F1	City of Manassas	3.5	75		$500,000
September 17	5:42 PM EDT	F0	Caroline	1.0	50		$2,000
September 17	5:50 PM EDT	F1	Culpeper	0.1	75		$150,000
September 17	4:55 PM CDT	F2	Fairfax to MD	15.0	200	1	$2.5 million
September 17	6:11 PM EDT	F1	Caroline	1.5	60		$10,000
September 17	6:23 PM EDT	F1	Caroline	2.0	150		$10,000
September 17	6:25 PM EDT	F1	King George	7.0	250		$500,000
September 17	6:34 PM EDT	F1	Goochland	0.2	40		$10,000
September 17	6:35 PM EDT	F0	Greensville	0.8	100		$10,000

September 28 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 28	4:58 AM EDT	F1	Pittsylvania	12.4	100		1

Nearby

Every tornado in Virginia since 1950 Warnings in force in Virginia The live radar over Virginia

What this means

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.

Sources

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