Tornadoes · United States · Virginia · 2021

EF0 tornado, Boykins to Shiloh, Virginia, August 7, 2021

From Boykins to Shiloh, this EF0 tornado ran 1.4 miles across Southampton County on August 7, 2021, touching down at 1:47 PM EDT and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 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
August 7, 2021
Touchdown
1:47 PM EDT (17:47 UTC)
Lifted
1:49 PM EDT (17:49 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
1.4 miles (2.2 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$5,000
County
Southampton County
Touchdown point
36.592, -77.227
Lift-off point
36.612, -77.230
Record number
2108071147-01

The damage survey

3 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 62 mph.

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 thunderstorms associated with low pressure moving from North Carolina northeast across Southeast Virginia and off the coast produced a weak tornado across portions of southeast Virginia.

A weak EF0 tornado touched down just northeast of Branchville knocking down several small pines, breaking limbs and snapping one tree.

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

The warnings

20 minutes of warning. NWS AKQ issued a tornado warning for this county at 17:27 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 18:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
10:00 UTC21:28 UTCFlash Flood WatchAKQ
17:24 UTC20:30 UTCFlood AdvisoryAKQ
17:27 UTC18:15 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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:24 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.

Newport, NC (KMHX), 12:00Z

5.8 hours before the tornado, 205 km from the path. August 7, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Newport, NC at 12:00Z on 2021-08-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1428 joules per kilogram, CIN -9, lifted condensation level 758 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, Newport, NC at 12:00Z on 2021-08-07The 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 73 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 19 knots.1939Sfc1 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
1428 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-9 J/kg
Surface CAPE
924 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
758 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
73 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
116 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.5
0-3 km lapse rate
4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Newport, NC (KMHX), 00:00Z

6.2 hours after it, 205 km from the path. August 8, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Newport, NC at 00:00Z on 2021-08-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 413 joules per kilogram, CIN -36, lifted condensation level 881 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, Newport, NC at 00:00Z on 2021-08-08The 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 74 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 23 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
413 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-36 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1110 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
881 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
74 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
80 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Emporia-Greensville Rgl Airport (EMV), 25 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
15:55 UTC74.573.6150° 4 kt1018.3RA
16:15 UTC74.874.30° 0 kt1017.9
16:35 UTC74.573.8240° 3 kt1017.9
16:55 UTC71.670.2280° 8 kt1017.9-RA
17:15 UTC7170.3280° 7 kt1017.6+VCTSRA
17:35 UTC70.369.8280° 7 kt151017.6+RA
17:55 UTC70.269.8 1017.3-RA
18:15 UTC 1016.9RA
18:35 UTC71.270.70° 0 kt1016.9
18:55 UTC72.3710° 0 kt1017.3
19:15 UTC72.571220° 4 kt1017.6VCTS
19:35 UTC7271.2230° 3 kt1017.6

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 47 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:49 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
16:55 UTCHEAVY RAIN 3.5LawrencevilleBrunswick, VA
17:47 UTCTORNADO2 Wsw ShilohSouthampton, VAA WEAK EF0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN JUST NORTHEAST OF BRANCHVILLE KNOCKING DOWN SEVERAL SMALL PINES, BREAKING LIMBS AND SNAPPING ONE TREE.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 tornado in VirginiaEvery tornado in Virginia since 1950Warnings in force in Virginia nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 7, 2021

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 74:29 PM CDTEF3Boscobel tornado, WI9.41,100$430,000
August 75:09 PM CDTEF1Iowa, WI7.750

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.