October 13, 2011 Severe Weather

Powerful Pacific System Impacting the West; First Significant Snow for Portions of the East

Power Pacific system will continue to bring significant impacts for Pacific Northwest into northern California the remainder of the week. Dangerous coastal affects, heavy rain, flooding, strong winds, and higher elevation mountain snow continues. Meanwhile, a storm across the east is set to bring the first accumulating snow to many higher elevations of the Catskills into the central Appalachians. 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.