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The National Weather Service has confirmed two tornadoes touched down — in Stafford and Loudoun counties — as Tropical Storm Debby moved through Thursday night.
Around 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 8, the NWS began issuing tornado warnings as the storm tore through Fredericksburg, Falmouth, Spotsylvania, Catlett, Middleburg and western Loudoun.
On Friday and over the weekend, the weather service Sterling forecast office sent survey teams to areas where tornadoes were suspected by radar or damage on the ground, and found that two EF-1 tornadoes touched down, one in western Stafford about five miles from the Fauquier County line and another in western Loudoun into Clarke County.
Stafford tornado
At 7:49 p.m., an EF-1 tornado with 90 mph winds touched down in the area of Kellogg Mill and Mt. Olive roads in the Hartwood area, traveling a 7.1-mile path and damaging a home, the National Weather Service said in a report released this weekend.
“Multiple large trees were snapped at the trunk and uprooted, leading to the closure of Mt. Olive Road for a period of time Thursday evening, the report said.
The tornado continued northwest toward the Saratoga Woods and Manor Woods Estates subdivisions. Medium to large trees were uprooted and branches sheared off as the twister headed toward the Poplar Manor subdivision along Stony Hill Road.
By 7:57 p.m., radar picked up a tornado debris signature as the storm moved northwest along Potomac Run toward Hartwood Road, uprooting trees and shearing branches. One toppled tree fell on a structure but no one was injured, the weather service said.
The tornado continued to strengthen as it continued north-northwest toward Sullivan Estates, where the worst damage was found on Kingdom Drive. Several large and medium trees were uprooted or snapped, with one tree falling onto a house, damaging the roof and garage. No one was hurt.
The tornado finally lifted near the intersection of Castlebar Drive and Ireland Drive, the weather service said.
Loudoun tornado
At 9:19 p.m., an EF-1 tornado with 100 mph winds tore along a 4.7-mile path in the Willisville area of western Loudoun into Bluemont in Clarke County, the weather service said. The tornado was 100 yards wide.
An NWS survey team found the tornado touched down north of Willisville, leaving scattered tree damage in the form of downed and sheared off branches.
