Tornadoes · United States · Virginia · 2014

EF0 tornado, Sunny Bank, Virginia, May 16, 2014

This EF0 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Loudoun County on May 16, 2014, touching down at 3:31 AM EDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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
May 16, 2014
Touchdown
3:31 AM EDT (07:31 UTC)
Lifted
3:35 AM EDT (07:35 UTC)
On the ground
4 minutes
Path length
0.4 miles (0.6 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Crop damage
$5,000
County
Loudoun County
Touchdown point
38.963, -77.695
Lift-off point
38.969, -77.691
Record number
1405160131-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A upper level trough stretched from Southern Canada to the Gulf Coast and an abundant amount of moisture was present across the Mid-Atlantic. A surface low was moving across the region in the overnight hours and showers and thunderstorms formed along the attendant cold front and surface trough.

The tornado was estimated to have touched down at approximately 3:31 AM EDT. Peak winds were estimated to have been 65 mph. A large tree was uprooted and fell across Sally Mill Road near the intersection of Light Horse Court. Additional trees and large branches were found uprooted and collapsed in different directions along with branches snapped or twisted at various points on a large residential property along Light Horse Court. The tornado quickly lifted around 3:35 AM EDT.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
16:07 UTC22:47 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchLWX
20:04 UTC20:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLWX
22:00 UTC12:57 UTCFlash Flood WatchLWX
04:46 UTC10:21 UTCFlood WarningLWX
06:04 UTC21:51 UTCFlood WarningLWX
06:54 UTC09:45 UTCFlash Flood WarningLWX
07:16 UTC19:15 UTCFlood WarningLWX
07:34 UTC08:00 UTCTornado WarningLWX
13:00 UTC06:25 UTCFlood WarningLWX
19:22 UTC00:21 UTCFlood WarningLWX
21:00 UTC14:00 UTCFlood WatchLWX
00:00 UTC17:15 UTCFlood 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 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), 00:00Z

7.5 hours before the tornado, 25 km from the path. May 16, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Washington/Dulle, VA at 00:00Z on 2014-05-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 128 joules per kilogram, CIN -42, lifted condensation level 735 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, Washington/Dulle, VA at 00:00Z on 2014-05-16The 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 87 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 41 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
128 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-42 J/kg
Surface CAPE
224 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
735 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
87 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
183 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
5.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), 12:00Z

4.5 hours after it, 25 km from the path. May 16, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Washington/Dulle, VA at 12:00Z on 2014-05-16Temperature 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 -88721, lifted condensation level 800 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 2014-05-16The 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 -164 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 57 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
-88721 J/kg
Surface CAPE
4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
800 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
57 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-164 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
66 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 18 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:33 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
06:30 UTCFLOOD3 Nne MiddletownFrederick, VAWATER RESCUE DUE TO HIGH WATER OVER VAUCLUSE ROAD.
07:31 UTCTORNADO3 E MiddleburgLoudoun, VARESULTS OF RADAR...STORM REPORTS AND A DAMAGE SURVEY BY NWS EMPLOYEES INDICATE TREE DAMAGE CONSISTENT WITH AN EF0 TORNADO ALONG SALLY MILL ROAD AND LIGHT HORSE COURT EAST OF MIDDLEBURG VIRGINIA. LARGE TREES WERE FOUND UP
07:31 UTCTORNADO3 E MiddleburgLoudoun, VARESULTS OF RADAR...STORM REPORTS AND A DAMAGE SURVEY BY NWS EMPLOYEES INDICATE TREE DAMAGE CONSISTENT WITH AN EF0 TORNADO ALONG SALLY MILL ROAD AND LIGHT HORSE COURT EAST OF MIDDLEBURG VIRGINIA. LARGE TREES WERE FOUND UP
07:31 UTCTORNADO3 E MiddleburgLoudoun, VARESULTS OF RADAR...STORM REPORTS AND A DAMAGE SURVEY BY NWS EMPLOYEES INDICATE TREE DAMAGE CONSISTENT WITH AN EF0 TORNADO ALONG SALLY MILL ROAD AND LIGHT HORSE COURT EAST OF MIDDLEBURG VIRGINIA. LARGE TREES WERE FOUND UP
07:37 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Nnw WoolseyFauquier, VATREE DOWN AT SUMNEY ROAD AND LOOKOUT ROAD INCLUDING WIDESPREAD LEAF AND SMALL BRANCH DEBRIS THROUGHOUT BULL RUN MTN ESTATES
07:46 UTCFLOOD1 Se HayfieldFrederick, VAUS HIGHWAY 50 EAST CLOSED FROM HAYFIELD ROAD TO BACK MOUNTAIN ROAD DUE TO FLOODING.
08:45 UTCFLOODBealetonFauquier, VAHIGH WATER ON PORTIONS OF REMINGTON ROAD SOUTH OF US RT17
09:30 UTCFLOOD2 Sw GleedsvilleLoudoun, VAHIGH WATER COVERING PART OF US RT 15 AT RT 650.
10:30 UTCFLOODMeadowvilleFauquier, VAHIGH WATER COVERING MERRY OAKS RD AT US RT 17

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2014 tornado in VirginiaEvery tornado in Virginia since 1950Warnings in force in Virginia nowThe forecast where you are

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.