Tornadoes · United States · Virginia · 2017

EF0 tornado, Moseley, Virginia, May 5, 2017

This EF0 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Powhatan County on May 5, 2017, touching down at 6:40 AM EDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $100,000 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
May 5, 2017
Touchdown
6:40 AM EDT (10:40 UTC)
Lifted
6:50 AM EDT (10:50 UTC)
On the ground
10 minutes
Path length
0.4 miles (0.6 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$100,000
County
Powhatan County
Touchdown point
37.474, -77.790
Lift-off point
37.478, -77.784
Record number
1705050440-01

The damage survey

14 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS AKQ, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.

  • Damage from house was caused by falling tree. Very limited damage caused by wind.
  • Other than some leaf splatter, no visible damage to the house.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

What the Weather Service recorded

Scattered severe thunderstorms in advance of low pressure and its associated cold front produced damaging winds and six tornadoes across portions of central and eastern Virginia.

Tornado tracked from near the Norfolk Southern Railroad northeast to near the intersection of Bradbury Road (VA-672) and Moseley Road (VA-605). Many trees were found snapped or uprooted along this route, including several onto homes.

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
10:21 UTC10:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm 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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:30 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.

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), 00:00Z

10.7 hours before the tornado, 155 km from the path. May 5, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Roanoke, VA at 00:00Z on 2017-05-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 5 joules per kilogram, CIN -31, lifted condensation level 706 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, Roanoke, VA at 00:00Z on 2017-05-05The 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 347 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 56 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
5 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-31 J/kg
Surface CAPE
48 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
706 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
56 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
347 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
487 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), 12:00Z

1.3 hours after it, 155 km from the path. May 5, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Roanoke, VA at 12:00Z on 2017-05-05Temperature 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 -81045, lifted condensation level 847 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, Roanoke, VA at 12:00Z on 2017-05-05The 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 28 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 73 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
-81045 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
847 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
73 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
84 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 88 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 10:38 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
10:05 UTCTSTM WND DMGCreweNottoway, VANUMEROUS REPORTS OF TREES DOWN.
10:09 UTCTORNADO2 Nnw Church RoadDinwiddie, VAEF1 TORNADO PRODUCED CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE TO TIMBER ALONG A 2.3 MILE PATH NNE FROM THE ORIGIN POINT TO NEAR NAMOZINE RD.
10:13 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nnw Church RoadDinwiddie, VAFUNNEL CLOUD SPOTTED WITH TREES DOWN NORTH OF FIVE FORKS ALONG HWY 460.
10:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGAmelia CourthouseAmelia, VAREPORTS OF TREES DOWN ALONG GENITO ROAD AND ALSO HWY 360.
10:40 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Ne ClayvillePowhatan, VAREPORTS OF TREES DOWN NEAR MOSELEY ROAD AND BRADBURY ROAD.
10:40 UTCTORNADO2 Ene ClayvillePowhatan, VANWS STORM SURVEY FOUND DAMAGE CONSISTENT WITH AN EF0 TORNADO. MANY HARDWOOD TREES WERE FOUND TO BE UPROOTED AND/OR SNAPPED ALONG BRADBURY ROAD (STATE ROAD 672) AND MOSELEY ROAD (STATE ROAD 605). SEVERAL TREES ALONG THIS
10:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 W MckenneyDinwiddie, VAPOSSIBLE TORNADO NEAR BASKERVILLE MILL ROAD AND HWY 40. REPORTS OF TREES DOWN AND STRUCTURES DAMAGED.
10:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Wnw MckenneyDinwiddie, VAPOSSIBLE TORNADO NEAR BASKERVILLE MILL ROAD AND HWY 40. REPORTS OF TREES DOWN AND STRUCTURES DAMAGED.
10:51 UTCTORNADO3 Wnw MckenneyDinwiddie, VANWS STORM SURVEY TEAM CONFIRMS DAMAGE CONSISTENT WITH AN EF1 TORNADO JUST WEST OF MCKENNEY IN DINWIDDIE COUNTY. STRAIGHTLINE WIND DAMAGE WAS ALSO OBSERVED. THE STORM SURVEY IS ONGOING AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WILL BE G
10:51 UTCTORNADO3 Wnw MckenneyDinwiddie, VANWS STORM SURVEY TEAM CONFIRMS DAMAGE CONSISTENT WITH AN EF1 TORNADO JUST WEST OF MCKENNEY IN DINWIDDIE COUNTY. WIND SPEEDS WERE ESTIMATED AT 85 TO 95 MPH. STRAIGHTLINE WIND DAMAGE WAS ALSO OBSERVED.
11:09 UTCTORNADO2 Nnw Church RoadDinwiddie, VAEF1 TORNADO PRODUCED CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE TO TIMBER ALONG A 2.3 MILE PATH NNE FROM THE ORIGIN POINT TO NEAR NAMOZINE RD.
11:13 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nnw Church RoadDinwiddie, VAFUNNEL CLOUD SPOTTED WITH TREES DOWN NORTH OF FIVE FORKS ALONG HWY 460.
11:13 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nnw Church RoadDinwiddie, VA
11:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGChesterfieldChesterfield, VATREES DOWN AT HICKORY ROAD AND RIVER ROAD.
11:35 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Ssw Fort LeePrince George, VAMULTIPLE REPORTS OF TREES DOWN ACROSS COUNTY. TREE DOWN ON A HOUSE ON BOISSEAU DRIVE.
11:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Sse ChamberlayneHenrico, VATREES DOWN NEAR OVERTON ROAD AND GALAXIE ROAD.
11:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Ssw RoxburyCharles City, VAMULTIPLE TREES DOWN IN NW PART OF COUNTY. TREE DOWN ON A CHURCH AT OLD UNION RD AND CHURCH RD.
11:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nnw Wrights CornerNew Kent, VAMULTIPLE TREES DOWN ALONG I-64 AT MM 206.
11:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 N Wrights CornerNew Kent, VAMULTIPLE TREES DOWN ALONG I-64 AT MM 206.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2017 tornado in VirginiaEvery tornado in Virginia since 1950Warnings in force in Virginia nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 5, 2017

12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 53:12 AM EDTEF0Rockingham, NC3.3375$4.0 million
May 54:04 AM EDTEF0Bedford, VA0.3100$15,000
May 55:21 AM EDTEF1Granville, NC1.0250$100,000
May 55:40 AM EDTEF1Mecklenburg, VA14.875$200,000
May 56:13 AM EDTEF0Lunenburg, VA1.075$20,000
May 56:50 AM EDTEF1Dinwiddie, VA2.4300$450,000
May 57:09 AM EDTEF1Dinwiddie, VA2.3150$38,000
May 57:27 AM EDTEF0Chowan, NC11.7100$205,000
May 58:02 AM EDTEF0Camden, NC8.175$20,000
May 58:17 AM EDTEF1Orange, VA0.9100
May 59:19 AM EDTEF1King George, VA1.210
May 57:55 PM EDTEF0Surry, VA4.975$6,000

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.