Tornadoes · United States · Virginia · 2006

F0 tornado, Paytes to Chancellorsville, Virginia, May 11, 2006

From Paytes to Chancellorsville, this F0 tornado ran 5.0 miles across Spotsylvania County on May 11, 2006, touching down at 5:35 PM EDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $80,000 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 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    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
F0
Date
May 11, 2006
Touchdown
5:35 PM EDT (21:35 UTC)
Path length
5.0 miles (8.0 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$80,000
County
Spotsylvania County
Touchdown point
38.180, -77.780
Lift-off point
38.270, -77.670
Record number
531

What the Weather Service recorded

A cold front, combined with a strong upper-level disturbance, caused widespread severe thunderstorms to occur during the afternoon and evening of May 11 across the Mid Atlantic. Most of the active weather occurred east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and included several weak tornadoes in Northern Virginia.

A cold front, combined with a strong upper-level disturbance, caused widespread severe thunderstorms to occur during the afternoon and evening of May 11 across the Mid Atlantic. Most of the active weather occurred east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and included several weak tornadoes in Northern Virginia.

Tornado touched down near Mastins Corner and continued northeast, lifting near Round Hill 10 minutes later. Damage path was about 5 miles long and 75 yards wide, with damage classified as F0 on the Fujita scale. Some structural damage was noted, mainly due to falling trees and limbs.

A small tornado hit the Fredericksburg Spotsylvania Military Park. This tornado was rated an F0 on the Fujita Scale. All damage observed was to trees only.

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

The warnings

10 minutes of warning. NWS LWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:25 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:05 UTC and running to 23:37 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:05 UTC23:37 UTCTornado WatchLWX
21:25 UTC22:15 UTCTornado WarningLWX
21:49 UTC22:30 UTCTornado WarningLWX
22:01 UTC22:30 UTCTornado WarningLWX

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 0.02 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

9.6 hours before the tornado, 85 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 radar

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 86 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:33 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
20:50 UTCTORNADOKents StoreFluvanna, VAPUBLIC REPORTED POSSIBLE TORNADO
21:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGSsw FerncliffLouisa, VASEVERAL TREES DOWN ALONG STATE ROUTE 250.
21:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGW FerncliffLouisa, VASEVERAL TREES DOWN AT MALLORY ROAD.
21:05 UTCHAIL 21 W FerncliffFluvanna, VA
21:05 UTCTORNADO1 Sw FerncliffFluvanna, VANUMEROUS TREES DOWN. TORNADO RATED AS AN F0 WITH WINDS AROUND 60 MPH. STORM TRACK STARTED IN EXTREME NORTHERN FLUVANNA COUNTY AND CONTINUED INTO SOUTHERN LOUISA COUNTY. END OF TRACK WAS ON STATE HIGHWAY 250 ABOUT 1 AND A
21:05 UTCTORNADO1 W FerncliffFluvanna, VAF0 NO WIDTH OR PATH YET
21:35 UTCTORNADO5 Ene BelmontSpotsylvania, VAA TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN NEAR MASTINS CORNER. THIS TORNADO PRODUCED INTERMITTENT DAMAGE ALONG A 5 MILE PATH TO THE NORTHEAST LIFTING NEAR ROUND HILL AT AROUND 545 PM. MOST DAMAGE WAS TO TREES...AND SOME STRUCTURAL DAMAGE W
21:47 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Ne BelmontSpotsylvania, VATREES DOWN 5 MILES NE OF BELMONT
21:55 UTCTSTM WND DMGSpotsylvaniaSpotsylvania, VATREES DOWN ON ROBERT E LEE DRIVE NEAR SPOTSYLVANIA COURTHOUSE
21:58 UTCTORNADO2 Sw ChancellorsvilleSpotsylvania, VATHE STORM THAT EARLIER PRODUCED A TORNADO IN SOUTHWEST SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY PRODUCED A SECOND TORNADO IN THE FREDERICKSBURG SPOTSYLVANIA MILITARY PARK. ALL DAMAGE OBSERVED WAS TO TREES. THIS SHORTER TRACK WAS 1 MILE LONG
22:02 UTCTORNADO 0Holly CornerStafford, VATRAINED WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO ON THE GROUND NEAR HOLLY CORNER.
22:02 UTCTORNADO5 Nw SpotsylvaniaSpotsylvania, VATRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED A TORNADO ON THE GROUND NEAR TODDS TAVERN
22:02 UTCTORNADOTodds TavernSpotsylvania, VATRAINED WEATHER SPOTTER REPORTED A TORNADO ON THE GROUND NEAR TODDS TAVERN.
22:15 UTCTORNADO4 N FalmouthStafford, VATHE STORM THAT PRODUCED 2 TORNADOES IN SPOTSYLVANIA PRODUCED A 3RD SMALL TORNADO NORTH OF FALMOUTH ALONG INTERSTATE 95. A SHORT PATH ESTIMATED TO BE ABOUT 300 YARDS LONG AND 50 YARDS WIDE WAS OBSERVED ON EITHER SIDE OF I
22:25 UTCHAIL 0.88SpotsylvaniaSpotsylvania, VANICKEL SIZE HAIL OBSERVED 3 MILES WEST OF SPOTSYLVANIA COURTHOUSE ON RT 208

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 115:58 PM EDTF0Spotsylvania, VA1.050$40,000
May 116:15 PM EDTF0Stafford, VA0.450$30,000
May 116:55 PM EDTF1Henrico, VA0.3200$10,000

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.