EF3 tornado, Clip to Chilhowie, Virginia, April 27, 2011

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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

April 27, 2011

Touchdown

1:01 AM EDT (05:01 UTC)

Lifted

1:20 AM EDT (05:20 UTC)

On the ground

19 minutes

Path length

19.6 miles (31.6 km)

Path width

1,320 yards (1207 m)

Deaths

3

Injuries

50

Property damage

$5.3 million

Crop damage

$500,000

Counties

Washington and Smyth counties

Touchdown point

36.650, -81.950

Lift-off point

36.838, -81.684

Record number

1104272301-01

Favorable atmospheric conditions resulted in a deadly tornado outbreak across southwest Virginia on the 27th. The tornadoes produced from light to heavy damage to many homes and businesses across southeast Virginia. The thunderstorms produced 4 tornadoes across the area along with 4 deaths and 50 injured.

Widespread severe weather impacted the area. A strong upper level trough approaching from the west provided strong winds aloft, and a weak upper level low pressure system moved across during the afternoon hours setting off scattered thunderstorms. These storms quickly became severe. In total, there were 6 tornadoes with numerous reports of damaging winds and large hail. Heavy rainfall from these storms also caused scattered flash flooding.

Glade Spring Tornado. An NWS storm survey reported an EF3 tornado formed south of Abingdon and tracked northeast to the Glade Spring area then moved into Smyth County Virginia. The 140 mph wind speed associated with the tornado, destroyed a small church as well as producing extensive damage to many residences and businesses. The tornado crossed I-81 at the Glade Spring exit (Exit 29) and caused extensive damage to a large truck stop as well as flipping trucks on the property. One truck turned on its side and smashed into the corner of the restaurant. ||Three people died and 50 were injured by the tornado. A 59 year old man and a 67 year old women died when the tornado destroyed their mobile homes. In addition, a 71 year old man died in his home. An indirect death occurred when a 60-year-old woman, driving a car rear-ended a stationary tractor trailer.

The tornado with winds estimated up to 115 MPH entered from Washington County and continued northeast until lifting at Carlock Creek Road near Brushy mountain. Five homes received significant damage to their roofs and walls. Three mobile homes were overturned as well. Several other buildings in the path also received moderate damage to their roofs. Numerous large trees were also either uprooted or snapped mid trunk.

The deaths

3 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

10 minutes of warning. NWS MRX issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:51 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 05:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 04:51 UTC and running to 06:49 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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:50 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.

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 141 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:59 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 2011 tornado in VirginiaEvery tornado in Virginia since 1950Warnings in force in Virginia nowThe forecast where you are

209 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 210 of them

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.