October 13, 2011 Severe Weather

Critical to Extremely Critical Fire Weather in the Southern Plains; Heavy Snow in the Northern Rockies

Gusty winds and very dry conditions will lead to a critical to extremely critical fire weather threat over portions of the Central and Southern Plains Thursday. Critical fire weather continues through Friday. Moderate to heavy mountain snow and strong winds will expand into the Northern Rockies Thursday, then into Colorado by Friday. Up to a foot of snow accumulation is possible. Read More >

...EF-0 TORNADO CONFIRMED NEAR CLIFTON VIRGINIA... LOCATION...2 MI NNE OF CLIFTON IN FAIRFAX COUNTY VIRGINIA DATE...OCTOBER 13 2011 ESTIMATED TIME...5:40 PM TO 5:46 PM EDT MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING...EF-0 MAXIMUM WIND SPEED...65 MPH MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH...50 YARDS LENGTH...3.0 MILES BEGINNING LAT/LON...38.804N / 77.376W ENDING LAT/LON...38.842N / 77.353W * FATALITIES...NONE * INJURIES...NONE * THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT/S/ AND PUBLICATION IN NWS STORM DATA. ...SUMMARY... THIS TORNADO PRODUCED SPORADIC DAMAGE ALONG A PATH OF APPROXIMATELY 3 MILES STARTING 2 MILES NORTH-NORTHEAST OF CLIFTON TO JUST WEST OF THE CITY OF FAIRFAX. INITIAL DAMAGE WAS NOTED TO SEVERAL TREES AND A POWER POLE LOCATED ON GROUNDS OF A RESIDENCE IN THE 6200 BLOCK OF NEWMAN ROAD. THE DAMAGE PATH WAS DISCONTINUOUS UNTIL LARGE BRANCHES WERE NOTED DOWN AT THE INTERSECTION OF VA STATE ROUTE 654 AND QUIET BROOK ROAD NEAR THE FAIRFAX COUNTY PARKWAY. THE CIRCULATION THEN LIFTED OVER BRADDOCK ROAD AND FAIRFAX COUNTY PARKWAY BEFORE PRODUCING ADDITIONAL DAMAGE IN THE SUBDIVISION ALONG VILLAGE DRIVE...WHERE NUMEROUS BRANCHES AND SEVERAL TREES WERE DAMAGED. THIS TORNADO HAS BEEN RATED MINIMAL EF-0 WITH MAXIMUM WINDS ESTIMATED AT 65 MPH.