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NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CONFIRMS F2 TORNADO HIT
Stafford storm damage was caused by tornado, National Weather Service says
Date published: 5/10/2008
By RUSTY DENNEN
The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado packing 120-mile-per-hour winds damaged scores of houses in southern Stafford County on Thursday night.
The Weather Service sent meteorologists to the England Run North area along U.S. 17 yesterday to investigate.
They determined the tornado touched down about 10:55 p.m. about a mile north of Berea, carving a path 4 miles long and about 150 yards wide through England Run.
It was an F2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale of tornado intensity, with winds of about 120 mph.
An F2 is capable of considerable damage. For example, roofs can be torn off frame houses, mobile homes demolished and large trees snapped or uprooted.
The scale ranges from an F0, a tornado with minimal damage and winds up to 72 mph, to an F5, with catastrophic damage and winds over 300 mph.
Forecaster Jim DeCarufel, in the Weather Service's Sterling office, said the designation is based on several factors, including radar information, storm damage on the ground and reports by trained weather spotters.
"We investigate and then make a determination" about whether it was a tornado, he said.
A pattern of widespread damage, rather than a straight-line blast of wind caused by a microburst associated with thunderstorms, is one indication of a tornado.
The Weather Service also received reports of storm damage to several businesses along Lansdowne Road in Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County. It determined that was not caused by a tornado, but rather winds associated with thunderstorms.
Tornadoes struck the two counties in May 2006, damaging property and downing trees near Mastin's Corner and Chancellorsville in Spotsylvania, and Falmouth in Stafford.
The storms Thursday night and early yesterday also dumped a significant amount of rain on an already saturated Fredericksburg area.
More than 4 inches fell in spots in the Rappahannock River basin.
Gordonsville got 41/2 inches, and Culpeper 2 inches in the upper part of the basin. Just over 2 inches was recorded at Fredericksburg's wastewater-treatment plant as of yesterday morning.
The Rappahannock was expected to crest at about 10 feet at Fredericksburg's City Dock between 3 and 4 this morning--well below the flood stage of 18 feet.
The swirling water had topped a City Dock walkway yesterday afternoon and was steadily rising. At 12 to 14 feet, the river reaches low-lying structures along Sophia Street.
Fredericksburg's river-monitoring gauge on the Ferry Farm-Mayfield Bridge is out of commission because a lightning strike two weeks ago damaged computer equipment at a city fire station.
"I'm not concerned, but we'll be monitoring [the river]," said Capt. Mark Bledsoe of the Fredericksburg Fire Department.
More rain is in the forecast through Monday.
Rusty Dennen: 540/374-5431
Email: rdennen@freelancestar.com
Date published: 5/10/2008
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