DRY FORK — At about 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Phil Hysell and Cody Burroughs with the National Weather Service office in Blacksburg arrived at the Dry Fork Volunteer Fire Department.
They were meeting with officials with Pittsylvania County Public Safety to survey the damage of a Friday tornado. By 2:55 p.m.
, the weather service issued the final rulings on the twister that packed winds of up to 118 mph. Scott Hutcherson, the deputy director of Pittsylvania County Public Safety, center, details tornado damage to Phil Hysell, the warning coordination meteorologist in Blacksburg, left, and meteorologist Cody Burroughs, on Saturday in the Dry Fork area of Pittsylvania County. Generally these kinds of observations determine if in fact a tornado did touch down or it was just straight-line winds.
“This is a rare occurrence,” Hysell, the warning coordination meteorologist, told the Register & Bee during Saturday’s survey. On Friday evening — only hours after the storm hit — the weather service declared the damage was from a tornado based on photos from a drone. Seeing the damage — mainly twisting of trees — meteorologists knew it had to be a twister.
They came down Saturday morning to inspect the it closer to determine how long it was on the ground what the winds were. The hourslong survey determined it was an EF2 tornado, the third strongest tier on a system that ranges from zero to five. Known as the Enhanced Fujita Scale, its the rating system based on wind speed and da.
