Tornadoes · United States · Virginia · 2025

EF0 tornado, Capahosic to Allmondsville, Virginia, March 5, 2025

Name: EF0 tornado, Capahosic to Allmondsville, Virginia, March 5, 2025
Start: 2025-03-05T20:39:00.000Z
End: 2025-03-05T20:40:00.000Z
Location: Capahosic to Allmondsville, Virginia

From Capahosic to Allmondsville, this EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Gloucester County on March 5, 2025, touching down at 3:39 PM EST and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $14,000 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.

EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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: March 5, 2025
Touchdown: 3:39 PM EST (20:39 UTC)
Lifted: 3:40 PM EST (20:40 UTC)
On the ground: 1 minutes
Path length: 0.3 miles (0.6 km)
Path width: 75 yards (69 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $14,000
County: Gloucester County
Touchdown point: 37.387, -76.644
Lift-off point: 37.392, -76.643
Record number: 2503051439-01

The damage survey

6 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.

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

A deep trough over the Midwest and surface low near the Great Lakes brought a robust cold front into the Mid Atlantic region. A strongly-forced area of linear convection moved from west to east across portions of central into eastern Virginia. These storms mostly produced strong to severe straight line wind gusts but one waterspout moved ashore from the York River into Gloucester county, causing EF0 damage.

A waterspout moved onshore from the York River near Gloucester Institute in Gloucester County. Several large trees were downed on this property, a large propane tank was displaced several hundred feet, shingles were removed from a cottage, and a small pillar was shifted off the awning which it was supporting. The tornado quickly moved north northeast and lifted soon after crossing Allmondsville Road around 3:40 PM EST.||In addition to this, numerous trees were downed throughout|Gloucester County consistent with thunderstorm wind gusts|of 65 to 75 mph.

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.

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 19:50 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.

Wallops Is Stn, VA (KWAL), 12:00Z

8.7 hours before the tornado, 125 km from the path. March 5, 2025.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

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: -100466 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 840 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 300 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 351 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 2.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Wallops Is Stn, VA (KWAL), 00:00Z

3.3 hours after it, 125 km from the path. March 6, 2025.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -41937 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 483 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 78 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 68 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 1036 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 1134 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 4.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 55 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:39 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)	Report	Where	County	Remark
18:05 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	Westwood	Hanover, VA	Tree down on Route 619 in the vicinity of Flannigan Mill Rd just west of the Hanover/New Kent county line. Time estimated.
18:47 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	1 W Palls	King William, VA	Time estimated from radar.
19:20 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	Oak Hill Corner	Surry, VA	Tree down near the intersection of Oak Hill and Laurel Springs Road. Time estimated.
19:39 UTC	TORNADO	1 Sse Allmondsville	Gloucester, VA	A NWS Storm Survey confirmed that a waterspout moved onshore near Gloucester Institute causing a brief EF0 tornado. The waterspout/tornado removed some shingles form a cabin, shifted a pillar from under a roof it was sup
19:52 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	1 Sse Stampers	Middlesex, VA	Extensive tree damage, trees on house at residence, winds estimated at 70 to 80 mph. Time estimated from radar.
20:12 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	1 Ene Ivor	Southampton, VA	Large limbs and a tree down in Ivor.
20:12 UTC	TSTM WND GST 52	1 Nw Wakefield	Sussex, VA	ASOS station KAKQ 1 NW Wakefield.
20:20 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	1 Ene Bethel Church	Isle of Wight, VA	Trees snapped along Foursquare Rd. Time estimated.
20:25 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	1 Se Five Forks	James City, VA	Tree damage with loud snapping sounds reported. Time estimated.
20:27 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	1 E Centerville	James City, VA	Tree down across the road blocking traffic. Time estimated.
20:30 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	2 Nnw Williamsburg	York, VA	Small amount of roof and siding damage at Verena at the Reserve. Strong wind lasted 20 to 30 seconds.
20:30 UTC	TSTM WND GST 56	2 S Ewell	James City, VA	Spotter reported a wind gust from a weather sensor on top of the James City County Rec Center. Time estimated.
20:35 UTC	TSTM WND GST 59	Williamsburg Airport	James City, VA	51 knot gust measured at KJGG.
20:37 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	1 W Menchville	City of Newport New, VA	Report from mPING: 1-inch tree limbs broken; Shingles blown off.
20:38 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	1 W Menchville	City of Newport New, VA	Report from mPING: 3-inch tree limbs broken; Power poles broken.
20:39 UTC	TSTM WND GST 63	1 W Beaconsdale	City of Newport New, VA	Estimated tstm wind gust of 55 kt. Vsby less than 1/4 mile in heavy rain. Retired USAF meteorologist.
20:40 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	1 Se Tabb	York, VA	Tree damage and a flagpole snapped. Report received via social media. Time estimated.
20:40 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	Yorktown	York, VA	Tree damage in Yorktown. Report received via social media. Time estimated.
20:41 UTC	TSTM WND GST 62	Patrick Henry Fiel	City of Newport New, VA	The Patrick Henry ASOS measured a gust of 62 mph at 341 pm.
20:42 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	1 Se Tabb	York, VA	Report from mPING: 3-inch tree limbs broken; Power poles broken.
20:43 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	2 Ne Lee Hall	City of Newport New, VA	Report from mPING: 1-inch tree limbs broken; Shingles blown off.
20:44 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	1 Ssw Soles	Mathews, VA	Reports of multiple trees down blocking the road. Time estimated.
20:45 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	1 Se Allmondsville	Gloucester, VA	Reports of trees and power lines down. Time estimated.
20:45 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	2 N Beaconsdale	City of Newport New, VA	Tree down on the corner of Omni Boulevard and Rock Landing Drive.
20:45 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	2 Nne Beaconsdale	City of Newport New, VA	Report of a tree down on Omni blvd.
20:50 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	2 N Harmony Village	Middlesex, VA	Report from mPING: 1-inch tree limbs broken; Shingles blown off.
20:50 UTC	TSTM WND GST 56	1 Nw Hallwood	City of Hampton, VA
20:55 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	1 Ene Oyster Point	City of Newport New, VA	Report of tree down on Jefferson Ave.
20:58 UTC	FLOOD	Tidewater	Richmond, VA	Report from mPING: River/Creek overflowing; Cropland/Yard/Basement Flooding.
22:18 UTC	FLOOD	1 Nw Hallwood	City of Hampton, VA
22:22 UTC	FLOOD	Messick	City of Poquoson, VA	Report from mPING.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2025 tornado in Virginia Every tornado in Virginia since 1950 Warnings in force in Virginia now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 5, 2025

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 5	8:34 AM EST	EF1	Union, NC	2.3	75			$150,000

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.