StormTracker8’s John Bernier remembers Hurricane Ivan on 20th anniversary

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — This week marks the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Ivan making landfall and bringing the largest tornado outbreak in Virginia’s history.

Ivan came onshore and quickly moved up the coast, where it spawned tornadoes in Virginia. That’s when StormTracker8 Chief Meteorologist John Bernier jumped on the air.

“Tornado warnings and tornado events were just all over the place,” said Bernier. “We got going probably a while before 3 in the afternoon, we just kept rolling right on through 7 o’clock.”

Virginia typically sees around 18 tornadoes in a given year — Ivan brought more than double that. The strongest tornado occurred in Fauquier County, with wind speeds of up to 200 miles per hour.

“It was a warm, humid day, you had the sun popped out, we were absolutely primed for severe storms to develop,” said Bernier. “Our technology was a little different back then, so we didn’t have the handtracker technology, so most of it was me talking and on the screen.”

While events like the tornado outbreak from Hurricane Ivan are uncommon in central Virginia, you can rely on the StormTracker8 weather team to keep you safe and informed ahead of every storm.

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