wxdude64

Lynchburg and Amherst tornado upgraded to an EF-3 000 NOUS41 KRNK 181539 CCA PNSRNK NCZ001>006-018>020-VAZ007-009>020-022>024-032>035-043>047-058-059- WVZ042>044-507-508-171500- Public Information Statement...Corrected for intensity rating National Weather Service Blacksburg VA 1138 PM EDT Wed Apr 18 2018 ***UPDATED FOR EF-SCALE RATING CHANGE FROM EF-2 TO EF-3*** ...NWS DAMAGE SURVEY SUMMARY FOR THE CITY OF LYNCHBURG AND INCLUDING PARTS OF CAMPBELL AND AMHERST COUNTIES FOR A TORNADO EVENT ON SUNDAY APRIL 15 2018... ***Based on additional analysis of damage photos and discussions with experts on tornado damage we have increased the maximum winds in the Elon community in Amherst County from 130 mph to 150 mph, which is in the EF-3 category*** The NWS has completed a survey of damage that impacted northwest Campbell County, the City of Lynchburg, and southern Amherst Co, and confirmed a tornado with 20.4 mile long path length, with maximum winds speeds of 150 mph. This puts at the mid range of the EF3 scale. Here are some specifics: Start Location...Near Timberlake in Campbell County VA End Location...5.5 miles west-northwest of Amherst in Amherst County VA Date...April 15 2018 Estimated Time...700 to 725 PM EDT Sunday April 15 2018 Maximum EF-Scale Rating...EF3 Estimated Maximum Wind Speed...150 mph Maximum Path Width...600 yards Path Length...20.4 miles Beginning Lat/Lon...37.3264 / -79.241 Ending Lat/Lon...37.606, -79.163 * Fatalities...None * Injuries...12 (estimated) ...Summary... The tornado first touched down in northwest Campbell County, just south of Waterlink Road and east of Timberlake Road (37.3264, -79.241), doing EF1 damage to trees as well as some roof damage, with an initial path width of about 100 yards. It then tracked NNW initially, then NNE and followed along the east side of Timberlake Road, damaging a number of businesses, flipping some cars and a truck trailer. Here it reached low-end EF2 wind speeds of 115 mph. It then crossed Timberlake Road as it moved into the western City limits of Lynchburg. In Lynchburg, the tornado damaged a mobile home park, with minor damage to roofs of homes and business and snapping dozens of trees as it crossed Boonesboro Road. Here it widened to about 600 yards wide doing EF1 damage. It then crossed the James River into Amherst County. In Amherst County the tornado crossed Highway 130 in the Elon area and strengthened to its maximum intensity with winds estimated at 150 mph. Here dozens of homes were badly damaged, some nearly completely, and many large pine trees were snapped off and left with no branches. A motor home was carried about 30 feet and tipped over. The hardest hit areas were along Nottaway Drive and Deerfield Drive. The damage path was about 400 yards wide in this area, but the strong EF3 damage was about 100 yards wide. The tornado then continued moving NNE doing mainly damage to trees and some minor roof damage to homes. Many hundreds of trees were snapped and uprooted as it tracked along parts of High Peak Road and appeared to be as wide as 400 yards at times, doing EF1 damage, before it eventually crossed Wares Gap Road and dissipated as it began to move up Shady Mountain Ridge (37.606, -79.163). The National Weather Service would like to express sincere gratitude to the emergency officials from Campbell and Amherst Counties, as well as the City of Lynchburg. EF Scale: The Enhanced Fujita Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories: EF0...Weak......65 to 85 mph EF1...Weak......86 to 110 mph EF2...Strong....111 to 135 mph EF3...Strong....136 to 165 mph EF4...Violent...166 to 200 mph EF5...Violent...>200 mph * The information in this statement is preliminary and subject to change pending final review of the event and publication in NWS Storm Data. $$ Keighton

Watching live news feed WSET 13 Lynchburg

So far a BK, a Starbucks and a living care facility have HEAVY damage, per news reports. Also power outages up to 18K oh, yeah, pics, showing a building missing 1/2 of roof and a wall blown out.

Yes, I am texting with someone who saw it! She lives just off Timberlake, couple cars flipped over, sheds torn up and roofs damaged. Trees down too. 10K out of power from news reports

Confirmed tornado in city of Lynchburg 15 minutes ago. Headed north at 45 mph towards Amherst.

Last comment is probably the MOST important suggestion lol

An easy 2x for me, BUT I was up on a mountain at 2600-2700 elevation, and 1500-1800 above valley floor. It looked much darker down in the valleys? Cool perspective was watching all the street lights and signs light up as darkness approached from above.

Hey! I was just above you on Foothills Parkway. Yes, it was awesome. I was cool watching all the lights turn on down in the valleys as darkness approached.

Ended up at my 3rd choice, but boy was it a winner! Look Rock on the Foothills Parkway in TN. I stumbled upon Jim Renfro and his family and friends 'safeguarding' the air quality/weather instruments and they invited me to join them for the day! Awesome as being 1500-2000 foot above the valley floor to the west we got a spectacular view of the darkness/shadow rolling in towards us from the WNW. Jim kept track of the weather and the temp dropped from 84 to 75 and the solar radiation went to zero like at night. He had set up a white sheet and we were able to capture the shadow snakes on recording. Being up that high I got a really cool pic of the horizon and the 360 degree 'sunrise' too. Maybe 10% cloud cover, and nothing overhead and in path during, great view of the totality! I am ready for 2024!

Yes, that is a win for eastern TN, BUT we still have several days to go. Looking great for now.

I've booked a place in eastern TN and plan to view from there. Hoping for decent weather, being August in the south the haze and humidity is always there. Close as I could pull off with work schedules and such. I got a really decent rate for the room, but I did this back in December before the 'buzz' really got started.

16.5 here for 11/12, BUT....on this date in 2012 I was sitting at 2.0 inches on several nickel and penny specials. Then had 9.8 on 2/20 and another 4.5 event on 3/5-6. The 2-20 event was my 'fun' travel event to Houston. US Air cancelled every morning flight out of Roanoke except mine at 6:25 am to connect in Charlotte to get to Houston. So my travel partner (this was business trip) and I arrived at work (at 4:15 am) and left for Roanoke an hour plus with the road conditions. Before we even made it past gate of plant her phone then mine went off with a 1 hour delay, so we decided to eat at IHOP's on way. Arrived at airport and another delay went through phones as we pulled in lot for additional 45 minutes. We finally boarded plane at 9:45 to make a 11:05 connection in Charlotte. I asked several times while waiting if we were going to make that connection, girl said oh yeah, easy. haha We landed in Charlotte at 10:52, ran through airport like old O J Simpson Hertz commercial to only see the plane backing out the gate at the end of terminal. For those who know the Charlotte airport we arrived at gate E24 and Houston departure was gate A10, about as far apart as you can get there. We were rebooked onto a Continental flight two hours later and finally got to Houston, only to have her luggage not show up haha.

So, from your original post yesterday set a new rainfall record for the 15th for DC? "August 15th has never had more than 1.15 inches of precipitation"

I broke my record low max with a 69.1 reading for the day, beating old mark of 70 from 1995.

Blacksburg VA did something yesterday I haven't seen in a while. They tied both their record warmest low and coolest high on same day with a 68 and 71 reading. Big 3 degrees difference, which is also hard to pull off this time of year. They also set a rainfall record for the day with 0.95 inches.

For all the 'heat' talk this month (and I finished a +5.2 here), I find it amazing I am exactly even 0.0 for first three months of this year!?! 36.2/36.2

Yes, literally.....lol. That is an amazing swing, usually it requires a spring/fall sun and dry air to create numbers like that.

I agree with you on that, it is what it is. Just glad that they did a 'repair'.

This December will be the EXACT opposite of 1917..............

Pffffttttt....those are chilly. Blacksburg currently running a +13.3, Roanoke a +11.3. This is crazy. Think at end of month we went backwards one to Sept instead of forward to Nov. Least my wood supply should last at this rate, still haven't built first fire in stove yet this fall.

U G L Y

Ended up with 19.5 here for that winter, but 12.6 of that fell in Dec, just a couple little one's and two's after Jan 1.

WinterWxLuvr created a slight breach of etiquette by skipping the triple dare and going right for the throat!

On your 'totals' map you see a small white dot in my county in western VA. This is Covington's CO-OP located at the filtration water plant, which keeps horrendous records and always has for past 40-50 years. It can snow and they report nothing, or half of what others get. I'll use your map as prove. Here are their numbers compared to other CO-OP's and CoCoRaHS reports in a 30 mile area. Theirs- 2/3-2/4 4.5", 2/6-2/7 4.5" total for month 11.2. Other sites with same dates 5.2/11.0/25.9, 4.7/11.2/30.2, 4.0/9.7/18.0, 6.0/11.1/22.8, 5.0/9.0/19.1. Now which of those are off? If you pull up ANY snow map for past 40-50 years there is a big hole in the middle of my county to accommodate this data. Some of the biggest snows in my area don't even get recorded into their records, Jan of 87 being a good example, snow total for the month a zero.

Man that was such a good looking storm!