EF1 tornado, Louisa to Cuckoo, Virginia, May 27, 2022

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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF1

Date

May 27, 2022

Touchdown

7:51 PM EDT (23:51 UTC)

Lifted

7:55 PM EDT (23:55 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

2.6 miles (4.2 km)

Path width

450 yards (411 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$100,000

County

Louisa County

Touchdown point

37.964, -77.999

Lift-off point

37.973, -77.953

Record number

2205271751-01

26 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS AKQ, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 95 mph.

• Hardwood trees uprooted and snapped. Path width roughly 250 yards
• Numerous large trees uprooted and some snapped. Several outbuildings damaged and destroyed by uprooted and falling trees. The main residence avoided the main impact of the tornado, but did have shingle damage.
• Large tree uprooted in front of vacant residence. Numerous other trees snapped and uprooted on property.
• Clear damage path continued south of a residence with hardwood trees uprooted and snapped.

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

Scattered severe thunderstorms in advance of a cold front produced damaging winds and two tornadoes across portions of central Virginia.

The National Weather Service in Wakefield surveyed the storm damage in central Louisa County and found it to be consistent with low-end EF1 damage with peak wind speeds of 90 to 95 mph. The tornado touched down in an open area southwest of Yanceyville Road near Bend of River. Sparse trees were snapped in the area. The tornado then entered a wooded area northeast of Yanceyville Road with a clear path of snapped and uprooted hardwood trees. The path at this point was over 200 yards wide with likely low-end EF1 damage. Next, the tornado moved through an inaccessible area before impacting a home at the end of a long lane. This home had shingle damage, a window broken, a backdoor ripped off, and damage to the chimney. There was also peripheral damage from snapped and uprooted trees, with a clear and consistent path observed through the trees. The tornado continued through the woods and eventually emerged onto Mount Airy Road and the Hunters Landing subdivision. Numerous large hardwood trees were snapped and uprooted. The fallen trees exhibited a clear circulation pattern in this area as the tornado became quite wide, at least 450 yards. This is where the most concentrated damage occurred and was likely low-end EF1. In addition to tree damage, several homes had shingles ripped off, siding removed, awnings and gutters damaged, and broken windows. Additionally, peripheral damage from fallen trees was observed. From this point, the tornado entered a rural area where the forest had been cleared, with no visible damage indicators. The tornado lifted and dissipated in this area before reaching US-33/Jefferson Highway.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 21:45 UTC and running to 00:57 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:44 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.

Louisa County/Freeman Field (LKU), 5 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 120 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:50 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 2022 tornado in VirginiaEvery tornado in Virginia since 1950Warnings in force in Virginia nowThe forecast where you are

12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.