Tornadoes · United States · Virginia · 2005
F1 tornado, Orlean to Ada, Virginia, August 30, 2005
From Orlean to Ada, this F1 tornado ran 5.0 miles across Fauquier County on August 30, 2005, touching down at 8:17 PM EDT and reaching 300 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $1.5 million of property damage.
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 mphthis tornado
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.
The record
- Rating
- F1
- Date
- August 30, 2005
- Touchdown
- 8:17 PM EDT (00:17 UTC)
- Path length
- 5.0 miles (8.0 km)
- Path width
- 300 yards (274 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $1.5 million
- County
- Fauquier County
- Touchdown point
- 38.820, -77.920
- Lift-off point
- 38.870, -77.880
- Record number
- 1091
What the Weather Service recorded
A National Weather Service meteorologist surveyed wind damage near Orlean in Fauquier County, Virginia. It was determined that a tornado touched down just northeast of Orlean. The tornado was on the ground for approximately 3/4 of a mile. This tornado downed several trees and uprooted a few trees. One tree fell on a building. This tornado has been rated an F0 on the Fujita Scale.
A National Weather Service meteorologist surveyed wind damage near Ada in Fauquier County, Virginia. A tornado touched down approximately 1.5 miles south of Ada in northern Fauquier County. The tornado was on the ground for approximately 5 miles. The tornado lifted 2 miles west of Marshall. The tornado downed and uprooted many trees along this path. Some stands of healthy trees were snapped off several feet above the base. Outbuildings were destroyed in a few locations. Approximately 15 structures were damaged due to the tornado, but much of this damage was due to falling trees. Direct wind damage to homes was limited to roof and siding damage. Despite the number of structures damaged, there were no injuries reported. This tornado has been rated F1 on the Fujita Scale.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
26 minutes of warning. NWS LWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:51 UTC, 26 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:46 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23:51 UTC | 00:46 UTC | Tornado Warning | LWX |
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 forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. 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 air that afternoon
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.
Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), 00:00Z
0.3 hours before the tornado, 45 km from the path. August 31, 2005.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1575 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- 0 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1541 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 666 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 17 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 129 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 273 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 2.5
- Supercell composite
- 12.8
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.8 K/km
The surface observations
Culpeper (CJR), 36 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:21 UTC | 82.4 | 77 | 0° 0 kt | 1007.5 | ||
| 22:41 UTC | 82.4 | 77 | 100° 3 kt | 1007.1 | ||
| 23:21 UTC | 80.6 | 78.8 | 90° 3 kt | 1006.4 | VCTS | |
| 23:41 UTC | 80.6 | 78.8 | 100° 3 kt | 1006.8 | VCTS | |
| 00:01 UTC | 80.6 | 78.8 | 0° 0 kt | 1006.4 | ||
| 00:21 UTC | 80.6 | 78.8 | 120° 3 kt | 1006.4 | ||
| 00:42 UTC | 80.6 | 78.8 | 120° 4 kt | 1006.1 | ||
| 01:01 UTC | 80.6 | 78.8 | 0° 0 kt | 1006.1 | RA | |
| 01:21 UTC | 78.8 | 78.8 | 140° 4 kt | 1005.8 | -RA | |
| 01:41 UTC | 78.8 | 78.8 | 160° 7 kt | 1005.8 | ||
| 02:01 UTC | 78.8 | 78.8 | 150° 6 kt | 1005.8 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Sterling radar (KLWX), 39 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:16 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.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:51 UTC | TORNADO | E Haywood | Madison, VA | EVIDENCE OF A BRIEF F0 TORNADO TOUCHDOWN WAS FOUND JUST EAST OF HAYWOOD NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF ROUTES 609 AND 603. DAMAGE WAS MAINLY TO ABOUT ONE DOZEN TREES BEING TOPPED OR SNAPPED. WIRES WERE REPORTED DOWN. PATH LENG |
| 23:03 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Madison | Madison, VA | TREES DOWN NEAR INTERSECTION OF DUET RD AND HOOVER RD |
| 23:23 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Sperryville | Rappahannock, VA | TREES DOWN ALONG SLATE MILLS RD |
| 23:30 UTC | TORNADO | 4 Nnw Cordova | Culpeper, VA | THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SURVEYED WIND DAMAGE IN WESTERN CULPEPER COUNTY JUST WEST OF EGGBORNSVILLE. MAINLY SCATTERED F0 TREE DAMAGE...A FEW TOPPED AND BLOWN OVER SMALL TREES...WAS FOUND ON ROUTES 628 AND 646 WEST OF |
| 23:35 UTC | TORNADO | Viewtown | Rappahannock, VA | A SMALL TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN INITIALLY NEAR ROUTES 640 AND 642 IN VIEWPOINT WHERE METAL ROOFING WAS PEELED OFF A FARM OUTBUILDING AND A FEW SMALL TREES WERE KNOCKED DOWN. THE TORNADO CROSSED ROUTE 211 2 MILES WEST OF AMI |
| 23:36 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Se Culpeper | Culpeper, VA | TREES DOWN ALONG HIGHLAND RD |
| 23:36 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Reva | Culpeper, VA | TREES DOWN ON REVA RD |
| 23:50 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 Nnw Culpeper | Culpeper, VA | TREES DOWN AT OLD STILLHOUSE RD AND EGGBORNVILLE RD. POSSIBLE FUNNEL CLOUD SIGHTED. |
| 00:08 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Ne Orlean | Fauquier, VA | A TORNADO...F0 ON THE FUJITA SCALE...TOUCHED DOWN APPROXIMATELY 1.5 MILES NORTHEAST OF ORLEAN...LIFTING APPROXIMATELY 2 MILES NORTH-NORTHEAST OF ORLEAN. THIS TORNADO DOWNED SEVERAL TREES AND UPROOTED A FEW TREES. THE MAX |
| 00:17 UTC | TORNADO | 2 S Ada | Fauquier, VA | A TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN APPROXIMATELY 1.5 MILES SOUTH OF ADA IN NORTHERN FAUQUIER COUNTY. THE TORNADO WAS ON THE GROUND FOR APPROXIMATELY 5 MILES. THE TORNADO WIDTH WAS 300 YARDS AND REACHED A MAXIMUM INTENSITY OF F1 ON T |
| 00:30 UTC | TORNADO | Ada | Fauquier, VA | STRUCTURAL DAMAGE REPORTED ALONG COBBLER VISTA LN |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2005 tornado in VirginiaEvery tornado in Virginia since 1950Warnings in force in Virginia nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of August 30, 2005
12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 30 | 3:17 PM EDT | F1 | York, PA | 0.5 | 100 | |||
| August 30 | 5:45 PM EDT | F0 | Warren, OH | 2.0 | 300 | $20,000 | ||
| August 30 | 6:51 PM EDT | F0 | Madison, VA | 0.5 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| August 30 | 7:05 PM EDT | F1 | Albemarle, VA | 1.0 | 100 | $500,000 | ||
| August 30 | 7:30 PM EDT | F0 | Culpeper, VA | 0.5 | 75 | $10,000 | ||
| August 30 | 7:35 PM EDT | F0 | Rappahannock, VA | 4.0 | 75 | $50,000 | ||
| August 30 | 8:08 PM EDT | F0 | Fauquier, VA | 0.8 | 75 | $50,000 | ||
| August 30 | 9:30 PM EDT | F1 | Macon, NC | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| August 30 | 12:22 AM EDT | F1 | Adams, PA | 3.0 | 200 | |||
| August 30 | 12:38 AM EDT | F1 | Adams, PA | 7.0 | 300 | |||
| August 30 | 12:40 AM EDT | F1 | Adams, PA | 3.0 | 50 | |||
| August 30 | 1:19 AM EDT | F1 | Cumberland, PA | 2.0 | 100 |
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.