EF1 tornado in Wood County, West Virginia

A brief EF1 tornado occurred east of Parkersburg on the evening of May 9th. Initial concentrated tree damage north of Rising Sun Ridge Road was found during the storm survey. There were hardwood trees observed uprooted with additional large branches down in a converging pattern.

The damage continued southeast to a small section of Jericho Road. Here, a narrow swath of large mixed hardwood and softwood trees were observed either uprooted or snapped close to their bases. In addition, a mobile home and barn were flipped over. There was one minor injury, as a person was inside the mobile home at the time it flipped over. There was a clear converging damage pattern noted here. Tree damage continued southeast to the end of Whitlatch Lane where large mixed hardwood and softwood trees were uprooted or snapped in a converging pattern. The highest rated damage occurred at these locations and served as the basis for the EF1 rating.

The tornado continued southeast to Ralston Hill Road and weakened, as only a few trees were uprooted or snapped with primarily large branches down. The tornado lifted along the southern end of State Route 31, just north of State Highway 50. A few trees were uprooted with large branches down along with an RV that was rolled over.

Severe weather was observed across the state on both of May 9th and 11th as the result of a crossing cold front and subsequent upper level disturbances.

Starting on the afternoon of the 9th, strong to severe thunderstorms first swept through northwest West Virginia, knocking down trees due to their resulting damaging wind gusts. A brief EF1 tornado touched down near the Parkersburg area that evening, causing multiple areas of tree damage within its path, along with an RV that was windswept onto its side.

Additional storms flared up two days later on the 11th, yielding additional tree damage across northern and parts of southeastern West Virginia. A few instances of quarter size hail was also observed within storms that afternoon.

Convection both evenings quickly diminished with the loss of daytime heating after sunset.