EFU Tornado — Pocahontas, West Virginia

2024-09-25 · near Hillsboro, Pocahontas, West Virginia

Event narrative

A tornado, verified by video and numerous pictures, occurred just west of Lobelia Road near Hillsboro. The tornado tracked northeastward, lifting near Dick McNeel Road, tracking over pastureland with no visible damage. This is the first documented tornado to occur in Pocahontas County.

Wider weather episode

Active weather returned to the state of West Virginia on September 24th as a conveyor belt of moisture streamed up from the Gulf of Mexico, where Hurricane Helene was churning ahead of its landfall. A slow moving upper level disturbance crossing through the Ohio Valley orchestrated enough instability, coupled with the plethora of moisture streaming up from the south, to create showers and thunderstorms during the early afternoon on the 24th. This led to localized areas of tree and power line damage in northeast West Virginia, along with two instances of hail in Harrison County.

This Predecessor Rain Event (PRE) continued into the next day, but proved to be less convective across West Virginia. However, strong tornadic activity permeating in the Greenbrier Valley snuck into Pocahontas County on the evening of the 25th, where one tornado touched down briefly. A tornado of unknown intensity, due to the lack of damage, touched down in Hillsboro on the evening of September 25th. This was the first documented tornado to occur in Pocahontas County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.1402, -80.2309)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1217174. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.