Tornadoes · United States · Virginia · 2006

F0 tornado, Falmouth, Virginia, May 11, 2006

This F0 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Stafford County on May 11, 2006, touching down at 6:15 PM EDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $30,000 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
6:15 PM EDT (22:15 UTC)
Path length
0.4 miles (0.6 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$30,000
County
Stafford County
Touchdown point
38.370, -77.470
Lift-off point
38.370, -77.470
Record number
533

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.

The same thunderstorm that produced two tornadoes in Spotsylvania County produced another tornado near Falmouth in Stafford County. Like the other two tornadoes, this was a weak F0 tornado that mainly caused tree damage. The damage was observed on both sides of Interstate 95, near the Route 17 interchange.

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 21:49 UTC, 26 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:30 UTC.

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

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
16:00 UTC16:00 UTCCoastal Flood StatementLWX
20:05 UTC23:37 UTCTornado WatchLWX
21:49 UTC22:30 UTCTornado WarningLWX
22:29 UTC23:00 UTCTornado WarningLWX
22:32 UTC23:00 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

10.3 hours before the tornado, 65 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

Stafford (RMN), 3 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:20 UTC69.868110° 7 kt1000.3BR
20:40 UTC73.468110° 9 kt999.7
21:00 UTC69.866.2120° 12 kt17999.7
21:20 UTC69.866.2100° 9 kt999
22:00 UTC69.86880° 10 kt997.6BR
22:20 UTC6864.490° 17 kt995.9TS BR
22:40 UTC6866.2200° 8 kt998.6+TSRA
23:00 UTC6868240° 4 kt998.6-TSRA
23:20 UTC6866.2250° 4 kt998.6VCTS
23:40 UTC64.462.6290° 5 kt999.3-VCTSRA

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

The radar

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:15 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
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 115:35 PM EDTF0Spotsylvania, VA5.075$80,000
May 115:58 PM EDTF0Spotsylvania, VA1.050$40,000
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.