Tornadoes · United States · Virginia · 2005

F1 tornado, Blackstone Aaf, Virginia, July 13, 2005

This F1 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Nottoway County on July 13, 2005, touching down at 6:59 PM EDT and reaching 60 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 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.

  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.

The record

Rating
F1
Date
July 13, 2005
Touchdown
6:59 PM EDT (22:59 UTC)
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
60 yards (55 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Nottoway County
Touchdown point
37.080, -77.950
Lift-off point
37.080, -77.950
Record number
319

What the Weather Service recorded

F1 tornado damaged part of the roof of a hanger at the Blackstone Army Air Field. Also, damage to 2 planes and trees down.

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

The warnings

19 minutes of warning. NWS AKQ issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:40 UTC, 19 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:02 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:40 UTC23:02 UTCTornado WarningAKQ

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 20:03 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.

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), 12:00Z

11.0 hours before the tornado, 138 km from the path. July 13, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Roanoke, VA at 12:00Z on 2005-07-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 424 joules per kilogram, CIN -90, lifted condensation level 909 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Roanoke, VA at 12:00Z on 2005-07-13The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -37 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 14 knots.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
424 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-90 J/kg
Surface CAPE
460 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
909 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-37 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
8 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), 00:00Z

1.0 hours after it, 138 km from the path. July 14, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Roanoke, VA at 00:00Z on 2005-07-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 118 joules per kilogram, CIN -32, lifted condensation level 866 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Roanoke, VA at 00:00Z on 2005-07-14The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -29 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 13 knots.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
118 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-32 J/kg
Surface CAPE
121 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
866 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-29 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-7 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Petersburg (Awos) (PTB), 41 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
21:00 UTC91.475.2190° 8 kt1011.5VCTS
21:20 UTC91.471.6140° 14 kt171012.2VCTS
21:40 UTC87.873.4100° 14 kt171012.9VCTS
22:00 UTC82.473.4100° 10 kt1013.2
22:20 UTC82.473.480° 7 kt1013.9
22:40 UTC82.471.670° 9 kt1013.9
23:00 UTC80.671.660° 6 kt1013.5VCTS
23:20 UTC80.671.610° 3 kt1013.9VCTS
23:40 UTC78.871.60° 0 kt1014.2TS
00:00 UTC78.873.4300° 5 kt1014.9-VCTSRA
00:20 UTC7775.2250° 6 kt1015.2TSRA
00:40 UTC75.275.2200° 3 kt1015.2TSRA

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

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 84 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:58 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
23:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGBlackstoneNottoway, VATREES DOWN AT RTE 46 AND WEST ENTRANCE ROAD 1 TREE DOWN RTE 40 AND WEST ENTRANCE ROAD.
23:00 UTCTORNADODominy CornerNottoway, VAF0 TORNADO. DAMAGED PART OF THE ROOF OF A HANGER AT BLACKSTONE ARMY AIR FIELD. ALSO DAMAGE TO 2 PLANES AND TREES DOWN. INTERMITTENT PATH LENGTH OF ONE HALF MILE. TORNADO ESTIMATED TO BE 60 YARDS WIDE.
23:00 UTCTORNADODominy CornerNottoway, VAF0 TORNADO. DAMAGED PART OF THE ROOF OF A HANGER AT BLACKSTONE ARMY AIR FIELD. ALSO DAMAGE TO 2 PLANES AND TREES DOWN. INTERMITTENT PATH LENGTH OF ONE QUARTER MILE. TORNADO ESTIMATED TO BE 60 YARDS WIDE.

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 July 13, 2005

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 131:35 PM EDTF0Carteret, NC0.120$1,000
July 132:17 PM EDTF0Beaufort, SC1.0100
July 132:39 PM EDTF0Beaufort, SC0.120
July 134:40 PM EDTF1Lincoln, NC3.075
July 135:19 PM EDTF0Beaufort, SC0.120

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.