2009.07.17
Several reports of wind damage from morning storms
The advance of a reinforcing shot of unseasonably cool, dry air into the hot, humid air that moved in on Thursday triggered a round of thunderstorms this morning, some of which were severe. It appears there has been widespread wind damage in the southern half of Campbell County near Brookneal, and the storms continue to march eastward where they may gain strength with daytime heating. Closer to home, here are reports of severe weather (mainly wind damage, with 1 big hail report) turned into the National Weather Service in Blacksburg this morning.
* Burnt Chimney, Franklin County: 71 mph wind gust, roof of trailer ripped off, numerous trees uprooted.
* 2 miles north of Pittsville, Bedford County: Two trees blown down
* 6 miles south of Moneta, Franklin County: Trees blown down at Brooks Mill Road and Scruggs Road
* 2 miles south of Boones Mill, Franklin County: Large tree blown down at Leaning Oak Road and Green Level Road
* 7 miles south of Moneta, Franklin County: Trees blown down at Route 122 between Harmony School Road and Hardy Road.
* Burnt Chimney, Franklin County: Several large trees down.
* 2 miles south of Callaway, Franklin County: Large trees blown down on Old Forge Road.
* 3 miles south-southeast of Boones Mill, Franklin County: Hail 1 inch in diameter.
* 3 miles east-northeast of Callaway, Franklin County: Limb 4 inches in diameter ripped off walnut tree.
* 4 miles north-northwest of Fries, Carroll County: Large trees blown down, Route 94 and Ivanhoe Road.
UPDATE SATURDAY 7PM: It should be added to this report that an EF-1 tornado was confirmed just north of Pittsville in Pittsylvania County, with damage mainly to trees; one tree was blown onto a home.
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Some new scattered showers and storms pushing through the area now.
Comment by Kevin Myatt — July 17, 2009 @ 4:25 pm
Severe cell now over Smith Mountain Lake has some weak rotation ... SPC showing 50 knots of deep-layer shear overhead, which is an unusually high number here at the peak of mid-summer ... nice compact little supercell, and other storms are remaining discrete rather than fusing into clusters.
Comment by Kevin Myatt — July 17, 2009 @ 5:13 pm
Kevin,
Are we the only ones with a lighning hit about July 17,or 18th, 2009? I don't remember reading much about anyone else being hit. We are at 3990 Winding Way Rd, property joins Windward Condos. A big tree on property line was struck by lightning.There was a very loud noise. I was in the bathroom within some 50 feet away. The whole bathroom filled with a brighht light as it zoomed through. We had been watching the bleepers on T.V saying a storm was on the way. It got dark. I thought I could get in and out of bath before it hit.
Our driveway was filled with big branches. Later could tell a tree even closer to our home had been hit and the big branch was caught high in the tree and we could not tell until the leaves started withering.
Windward Association felt the tree was theirs and took care of the clean up, even on our driveway.
We can't remember if it happened on the 17th of July or 18th. Do your records show any lightning either day in the S.W. Roanoke area?
Thank you for your time,
Chris Beck
Comment by C. Beck — August 1, 2009 @ 7:40 pm
Chris: The nature of summer thunderstorms means that there are often lightning strikes in dispersed areas, where one location may get a close strike while folks elsewhere just hear a rumble of thunder and experiencing nothing unusual. There were definitely thunderstorms in the area on the 17th so it is quite plausible you could have had a lightning strike near you. I am not aware of a database that records individual lightning strikes, so I don't have any records that would shed light on your strike, but it is consistent with what was going on in the weather that day and week.
Comment by Kevin Myatt — August 1, 2009 @ 8:34 pm