EF1 tornado, Figsboro to Sydnorsville, Virginia, May 8, 2008

1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 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.

Rating

EF1

Date

May 8, 2008

Touchdown

8:00 PM EDT (00:00 UTC)

Lifted

8:03 PM EDT (00:03 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

0.9 miles (1.5 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$165,000

Counties

Henry and Franklin counties

Touchdown point

36.797, -79.852

Lift-off point

36.808, -79.843

Record number

0805081800-01

A strong storm system across the Ohio Valley during the afternoon of Thursday, May 8th, pushed east toward the mountains Thursday evening. A boundary was trailing from the low across southern Virginia. This put the region in a high shear environment, meaning, winds at the surface were blowing from the southeast, while a few thousand feet above the surface, the winds were blowing out of the southwest at 40 to 50 mph. Supercells formed in the foothills and piedmont of Virginia, ahead of a strong but broken line of thunderstorms that formed just west of the mountains and became more organized by the time it reached the Blue Ridge. These severe thunderstorms brought EF-1 tornadoes, damaging winds, large hail and flash flooding to portions of Southwest Virginia.

A tornado, rated EF-1, with winds 86 to 95 mph, was on the ground in Henry County, along a path length of less than a half mile, with a maximum width of 75 yards. Numerous trees were downed, with 2 homes damaged. More specifically, the tornado touched down near state route 886 in Henry County at 8pm EDT, and continued into Franklin County at 801 pm EDT.

A tornado, rated EF-1, with winds 86 to 95 mph, moved out of Henry County at 801 pm EDT and continued another half mile into Franklin County, before lifting at 803 pm EDT. The maximum width was 75 yards. Numerous trees were downed, with 2 homes damaged. The tornado lifted at state routes 618 and 632.

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

22 minutes of warning. NWS RNK issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:38 UTC, 22 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:50 UTC and running to 07:49 UTC.

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 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 20:02 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 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.

Martinsville (MTV), 24 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 45 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:00 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2008 tornado in VirginiaEvery tornado in Virginia since 1950Warnings in force in Virginia nowThe forecast where you are

28 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.