Tornadoes · United States · Virginia · 2009

EF0 tornado, Watauga, Virginia, June 16, 2009

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Washington County on June 16, 2009, touching down at 8:35 PM EDT and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $8,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

    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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
June 16, 2009
Touchdown
8:35 PM EDT (00:35 UTC)
Lifted
8:40 PM EDT (00:40 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$8,000
County
Washington County
Touchdown point
36.680, -81.930
Lift-off point
36.680, -81.930
Record number
0906161835-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A thunderstorm complex developed along a boundary and tracked across southwest Virginia bringing several thunderstorm wind damage reports. Three small tornadoes also developed.

An EF0 tornado touched down briefly 3 miles southeast of Abingdon with a 20 yard path width and path length of a tenth of a mile. The tornado produced maximum wind speeds at 70 mph. A few trees were downed due to the tornado.

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

The warnings

44 minutes of warning. NWS MRX issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:51 UTC, 44 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:45 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 21:57 UTC and running to 00:44 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:57 UTC00:44 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchMRX
23:15 UTC00:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRX
23:51 UTC00:45 UTCTornado WarningMRX
00:17 UTC01:00 UTCTornado WarningMRX
14:01 UTC03:00 UTCFlash Flood WatchMRX
16:56 UTC23:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchMRX

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. The outlook in force was issued at 19:42 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.

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), 00:00Z

0.6 hours before the tornado, 194 km from the path. June 17, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 00:00Z on 2009-06-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 50 joules per kilogram, CIN -2, lifted condensation level 466 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, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 00:00Z on 2009-06-17The 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 20 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 35 knots.193958Sfc1 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
50 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-2 J/kg
Surface CAPE
65 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
466 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
20 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
120 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), 12:00Z

11.4 hours after it, 194 km from the path. June 17, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 2009-06-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 26 joules per kilogram, CIN -74, lifted condensation level 463 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, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 2009-06-17The 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 131 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 35 knots.193958Sfc1 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
26 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-74 J/kg
Surface CAPE
29 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
463 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
131 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
340 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 143 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:34 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
23:25 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Sw DungannonScott, VANUMEROUS TREES DOWN ACROSS THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE COUNTY. REPORTED BY DISPATCH.
00:20 UTCTSTM WND DMG7 Sse CastlewoodRussell, VAA COUPLE OF TREES DOWN. REPORTED BY DISPATCH.
00:25 UTCTSTM WND DMG6 W AbingdonWashington, VAA FEW TREES DOWN COUNTYWIDE. REPORTED BY DISPATCH.
00:35 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Se AbingdonWashington, VASEVERAL TREES DOWN AND TWISTED
00:35 UTCTSTM WND DMGLebanonRussell, VANUMEROUS TREES DOWN IN AND AROUND LEBANON AND AS FAR AWAY AS HONAKER AND BLACKFORD. REPORTED BY DISPATCH.
00:37 UTCTSTM WND GST 0SaltvilleSmyth, VATREE DOWN
00:48 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Nne WhitetopSmyth, VATREE DOWN ON WHITETOP ROAD
01:00 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD1 Nw AdwolfSmyth, VAOFF DUTY OFFICER REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD BETWEEN SEVEN MILE FORD AND ADWOLF.
01:05 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Ssw Sugar GroveGrayson, VATREE DOWN ON ROUTE 16 IN TROUTDALE
01:05 UTCTSTM WND DMGMarionSmyth, VATREE DOWN.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2009 tornado in VirginiaEvery tornado in Virginia since 1950Warnings in force in Virginia nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 16, 2009

22 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 165:40 AM CDTEF1Cedar, MO5.8150$15,000
June 1612:00 PM CDTEF0Potter, SD0.210
June 1612:28 PM CDTEF1Lyon, KY0.390$70,000
June 161:00 PM CDTEF0Sioux, ND0.120
June 161:35 PM CDTEF0Potter, SD0.525
June 162:02 PM CDTEF0Walworth, SD0.110
June 162:09 PM CDTEF0Hand, SD0.725
June 162:00 PM MDTEF0Dunn, ND0.120
June 163:55 PM CDTEF0Hand, SD3.6100
June 165:42 PM EDTEF0Cleveland, NC1.150
June 166:00 PM EDTEF1Cleveland, NC9.3300
June 165:31 PM CDTEF0Davison, SD0.350
June 166:40 PM EDTEF0Lee, VA0.120$5,000
June 166:50 PM EDTEF1York, SC1.530
June 166:36 PM CDTEF0Hutchinson, SD0.450
June 166:50 PM CDTEF0Hutchinson, SD0.350
June 167:55 PM EDTEF0Russell, VA0.220$5,000
June 167:20 PM CDTEF0Hutchinson, SD0.350
June 167:27 PM CDTEF1Hutchinson, SD2.1100
June 169:25 PM EDTEF1Lewis, KY0.250$20,000
June 168:28 PM CDTEF0Yankton, SD0.350
June 169:25 PM CDTEF0Sumner, KS0.855

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.