ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, June 26, 1996               TAG: 9606260045
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: CENTREVILLE
SOURCE: Associated Press 

TORNADO COULD HAVE HURT MORE FORECASTER IMPRESSED, BUT RELIEVED

Wayne Thompson stood on his front porch as a creepy black stillness descended and the wind picked up ominously. He stayed long enough to see his neighbor's roof fly off as a tornado passed just yards away.

``The whole roof came up, and then it sort of did a back flip,'' Thompson said Tuesday, a day after the storm destroyed or damaged 60 homes in his suburban neighborhood.

The National Weather Service believes the tornado, with winds of about 150 mph, is the first one in densely populated Fairfax County since 1979, when a stronger storm killed one person and injured six.

Thompson fled to his basement as the storm punched holes in his own roof and sent a tree branch through the rear window of his truck.

The Monday afternoon storm felled hundreds of trees and knocked out power to more than 100,000 Northern Virginia households.

No one was seriously injured by the storm itself, but a utility company mechanic working to restore power in Washington, D.C., died after she touched a high-voltage power line.

The fast-moving tornado that sliced through developments of expensive homes with winds twice the speed of a hurricane could have been much worse, weather forecasters said.

``Tornadoes are very rare, especially in this part of the country,'' said Alan Nierow, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service forecasting office in Sterling.

``It is fortunate that this was not a stronger storm, although it was pretty impressive,'' he said.

The twister was a 2 on a scale of 5 that forecasters use to measure tornado strength, he said.

In general, the mountains of Western Virginia and the ocean in the east combine to quell the dangerous combination of pressure and precipitation that can produce tornadoes.

On average, six tornadoes a year touch down in Virginia, although in 1993 Virginia had 18 in one day, the weather service said.

Most of the state's tornadoes do less damage than the one Monday because they typically strike in less-populated areas.

Insurance inspectors and county surveyors picked their way through shingles, tree limbs and other debris Tuesday in Centreville. A preliminary damage estimate should be available today, fire officials said.

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