Tornadoes · United States · Virginia · 2006

F1 tornado, Varina Grove, Virginia, May 11, 2006

This F1 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Henrico County on May 11, 2006, touching down at 6:55 PM EDT and reaching 200 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
May 11, 2006
Touchdown
6:55 PM EDT (22:55 UTC)
Path length
0.3 miles (0.5 km)
Path width
200 yards (183 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Henrico County
Touchdown point
37.450, -77.270
Lift-off point
37.450, -77.270
Record number
534

What the Weather Service recorded

F1 tornado uprooted large trees, and many trees snapped off in spiral pattern. Roof blown off of boat house about 100 feet, and outhouse destroyed.

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

The warnings

18 minutes of warning. NWS AKQ issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:37 UTC, 18 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:02 UTC and running to 23:53 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:02 UTC23:53 UTCTornado WatchAKQ
22:15 UTC23:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAKQ
22:37 UTC23:00 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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), 12:00Z

10.9 hours before the tornado, 167 km from the path. May 11, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Washington/Dulle, VA at 12:00Z on 2006-05-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -71197, lifted condensation level 567 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Washington/Dulle, VA at 12:00Z on 2006-05-11The 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 97 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 39 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-71197 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
567 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
97 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
192 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Richmond/Byrd Field (RIC), 8 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
21:54 UTC7469110° 7 kt998.3
22:07 UTC73.469.890° 6 kt998.3TS
22:17 UTC73.469.8110° 6 kt998.3TSRA BR
22:21 UTC73.469.8120° 6 kt998.6TSRA FG
22:29 UTC71.669.8260° 20 kt28999.7+TSRA FG
22:45 UTC69.869.8150° 10 kt998.6TSRA BR
22:54 UTC7067200° 12 kt19998.6-TSRA BR
23:20 UTC69.864.4230° 10 kt998
23:54 UTC6556280° 10 kt1000.3
00:54 UTC6457290° 5 kt1002.4

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

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 57 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:53 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
22:40 UTCHAIL 0.53 Sw Bottoms BridgeHenrico, VADIME SIZE HAIL REPORTED NEAR ELKO ROAD.
22:55 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Ese Bottoms BridgeNew Kent, VABRANCHES SNAPPED OFF THE TOP OF SEVERAL TREES ALONG THE INTERSECTION OF ROUTE 60 AND BROOK BOULEVARD.
22:55 UTCHAIL 1.51 Nw GlendaleHenrico, VA
22:55 UTCTORNADO1 Nw GlendaleHenrico, VAF1 DAMAGE---LARGE TREES UPROOTED, AND MANY TREES SNAPPED OFF IN SPIRAL PATTERN. ROOF BLOWN OFF OF BOAT HOUSE ABOUT 100 FT, AND OUTHOUSE DESTROYED. PATH WIDTH 200-300 M, PATH LENGTH 400-500 M.
23:03 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Sw Bottoms BridgeHenrico, VASEVERAL TREES DOWN AT PORTUGEE AND ELKO ROADS.
23:03 UTCHAIL 0.53 Sw Bottoms BridgeHenrico, VADIME SIZE HAIL REPORTED NEAR ELKO ROAD.
23:03 UTCHAIL 0.53 Sw Bottoms BridgeHenrico, VADIME SIZE HAIL REPORTED NEAR ELKO ROAD.
23:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 E CarsonPrince George, VANUMEROUS TREES DOWN.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in VirginiaEvery tornado in Virginia since 1950Warnings in force in Virginia nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 11, 2006

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 115:05 PM EDTF0Louisa, VA1.030$10,000
May 115:35 PM EDTF0Spotsylvania, VA5.075$80,000
May 115:58 PM EDTF0Spotsylvania, VA1.050$40,000
May 116:15 PM EDTF0Stafford, VA0.450$30,000

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.