F1 tornado, Shiloh, Virginia, May 7, 2004

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

May 7, 2004

Touchdown

7:51 PM EDT (23:51 UTC)

Path length

3.0 miles (4.8 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$10,000

County

King George County

Touchdown point

38.230, -77.130

Lift-off point

38.200, -77.080

Record number

115

A strong cold front move through the region on the 7th. Numerous showers and very strong thunderstormsaccompanied the front. The thunderstorms produced widespread damage in the Piedmont region of Northern Virginia. Significant damage was reported in northwest King George, east Stafford, and northeast Spotsylvania Counties. In King George County, an F1 tornado touched down near Shiloh. At least a dozen dwelling, and 10 boats were damaged. The boats were stored in dry dock in the Waugh Marina. Several trees were also uprooted or topped out along the storms three mile path. In Stafford County, 80 to 90 mph winds destroyed two homes caused major damage to twenty others. The Japazawas Subdivision Eastern Stafford County had about 40 felled trees. Three Amtrak trains were stalled between the Chatham area of Stafford and Fredericksburg due to downed trees and power lines. Finally, in the City of Spotsylvania, Spotsylvania County, the main stage at the re-enactment of the Battle of Spotsylvania collapsed due to strong winds. A number of tents and a couple of portable toilets were also blown over.

A tornado touched down in southeast King George County. The damage began just northwest of Shilohand the path continued southeast for approximately three miles. Many trees were topped, snapped and uprooted. Damage was intermittent, and the strongest damage occurred near the end of the tornado path.

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 23:46 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 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 16:23 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 Sterling radar (KLWX), 91 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:50 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 2004 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.