Tornadoes · United States · Virginia · 2015

EF0 tornado, Atlee to Rural Pt, Virginia, June 27, 2015

From Atlee to Rural Pt, this EF0 tornado ran 3.6 miles across Hanover County on June 27, 2015, touching down at 3:35 PM EDT and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $2,000 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 27, 2015
Touchdown
3:35 PM EDT (19:35 UTC)
Lifted
3:43 PM EDT (19:43 UTC)
On the ground
8 minutes
Path length
3.6 miles (5.8 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$2,000
County
Hanover County
Touchdown point
37.659, -77.438
Lift-off point
37.666, -77.373
Record number
1506271335-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Scattered severe thunderstorms along a warm front and in advance of a cold front produced damaging winds, a weak tornado, and heavy rain across portions of central and eastern Virginia.

A weak tornado touched down several times in Hanover county. It began just north and east of the Interstate 295 and Interstate 95 interchange. It then tracked east northeast for about 3.5 miles, crossing Route 301 before lifting and dissipating. Minor damage to tops of trees occurred.

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:55 UTC and running to 23:07 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
17:55 UTC23:07 UTCTornado WatchAKQ
19:23 UTC19:29 UTCTornado WarningAKQ

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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:13 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

7.6 hours before the tornado, 143 km from the path. June 27, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Washington/Dulle, VA at 12:00Z on 2015-06-27Temperature 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 -72551, lifted condensation level 603 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2015-06-27The 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 153 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 31 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-72551 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
603 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
153 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
202 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

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

4.4 hours after it, 143 km from the path. June 28, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Washington/Dulle, VA at 00:00Z on 2015-06-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 6 joules per kilogram, CIN -125, lifted condensation level 581 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2015-06-28The 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 128 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 45 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
6 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-125 J/kg
Surface CAPE
221 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
581 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
128 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
207 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.0
Supercell composite
-0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 83 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:37 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
19:27 UTCTORNADOAshlandHanover, VATORNADO REPORTED NEAR THE HANOVER COUNTY AIRPORT
19:47 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD2 S HanoverHanover, VAFUNNEL CLOUD 1.5 MILE SOUTH OF HANOVER COURT HOUSE
20:07 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD2 Nw Henley ForkKing And Queen, VA

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2015 tornado in VirginiaEvery tornado in Virginia since 1950Warnings in force in Virginia nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 27, 2015

27 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 274:28 PM EDTEF1Charles, MD2.0100$500,000
June 274:32 PM EDTEF1Charles, MD16.1800$13,000
June 273:55 PM CDTEF0Cavalier, ND0.320
June 274:02 PM CDTEF1Cavalier, ND0.9120
June 275:06 PM EDTEF0Butler, PA1.850$5,000
June 274:09 PM CDTEF1Cavalier, ND3.0150
June 274:17 PM CDTEF0Walsh, ND3.075
June 274:24 PM CDTEF0Walsh, ND0.850
June 274:28 PM CDTEF0Walsh, ND0.850
June 275:30 PM EDTEF0Brunswick, NC0.025$3,000
June 274:36 PM CDTEF1Nelson, ND4.875
June 275:46 PM EDTEF1Lee, NC0.5100$25,000
June 274:55 PM CDTEF1Grand Forks, ND5.3150
June 275:13 PM CDTEF0Grand Forks, ND1.050
June 275:18 PM CDTEF0Steele, ND0.125
June 275:24 PM CDTEF0Barnes, ND0.125
June 275:38 PM CDTEF0Grand Forks, ND2.050
June 275:48 PM CDTEF1Steele, ND3.2800
June 276:02 PM CDTEF2Grand Forks, ND3.0400
June 276:13 PM CDTEF1Steele, ND3.5300
June 278:23 PM EDTEF1Robeson, NC0.7175$40,000
June 278:45 PM EDTEF1Robeson, NC0.1100$20,000
June 278:05 PM CDTEF0Clay, MN0.125
June 278:14 PM CDTEF0Beadle, SD0.350
June 278:22 PM CDTEF1Richland, ND2.075
June 278:44 PM CDTEF1Richland, ND0.8100
June 278:59 PM CDTEF0Richland, ND2.4300

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.