April 27-28, 2011 Severe Weather

Severe Thunderstorm Threat From the Central Plains to the Northeast; Extreme HeatRisk for the East Coast

Strong to severe thunderstorms are possible from the central Plains to the Northeast through this evening. Widespread damaging winds are the primary threat but hail and a tornado or two is also possible. Extremely dangerous heat continues across the Eastern U.S. Warm overnight low temperatures will provide little to no relief. Read More >

...EF-1 TORNADO CONFIRMED JUST SOUTHEAST OF HARRISONBURG VIRGINIA... LOCATION...KEEZLETOWN IN ROCKINGHAM COUNTY VA DATE...APRIL 28 2011 ESTIMATED TIME...3:55 AM TO 3:58 AM EDT MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING...EF-1 MAXIMUM WIND SPEED...90 MPH MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH...150 YARDS LENGTH...2.7 MILES BEGINNING LAT/LON...38.388N / 78.865W ENDING LAT/LON...38.416N / 78.832W * 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... A GROUND SURVEY CONDUCTED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE...TOGETHER WITH RADAR AND EYEWITNESS REPORTS DETERMINED THAT AN EF-1 TORNADO TRACKED JUST SOUTHEAST OF THE CITY OF HARRISONBURG ALONG BOYER ROAD. THE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ALONG OSCEOLA SPRINGS ROAD CAUSING TREE DAMAGE...THEN PROCEEDED NORTHEAST TO BOYER ROAD. THE TORNADO UPROOTED AND SNAPPED NUMEROUS LARGE TREES... UPROOTED MOST OF A PERSONAL APPLE ORCHARD...CAUSED STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO TWO HOMES BY LIFTING THEIR ROOFS...DAMAGED TWO BARN ROOFS...KNOCKED DOWN GRAVESTONES...DESTROYED A METAL SHED...AND MOVED A LIVESTOCK TRAILER SEVERAL FEET. THE STORM CROSSED US ROUTE 33 AND LIFTED WHEN IT REACHED THE RIDGE ADJACENT TO IT.