EF3 tornado in Wood County, West Virginia

This tornado originated in northeastern Meigs County Ohio and crossed the Ohio River, just upstream of the lock and dam and the community of Belleville. A small pocket of EF3 damage located along Route 68 in the valley and flood plain along the river. The maximum wind gusts were estimated at 160 mph here. Also, the width of the tornado briefly widened to 500 yards here. Well built single family homes received major damage or were destroyed. In this area, a 57 year old male was killed. He, his wife, and their dog had gone downstairs into the basement for protection. The husband went back upstair to get a flashlight. He figured the electricity would go out, as darkness had already set in. At that point, he disappeared as the tornado hit. His wife tried to open the door to let him back down, but she could not open the door. Their ranch style home with a brick front was destroyed. His body was found some 150 to 200 feet away in a field. Ten other people were injured, but none seriously. Other significant structural and tree damage occurred along a river access road and basically along the South Fork of Lee Creek drainage toward Rockport. The total path length of this tornado from Meigs County Ohio into Wood County was over 9 miles. All total, the county reported 10 homes destroyed, 6 homes with major damage, and 27 homes with minor damage. About 15 to 18 outbuildings were damaged or destroyed.

A cold front, in tandem with strong mid and upper level forcing, produced a severe weather outbreak in southeast Ohio into extreme western West Virginia during the late afternoon and evening of Thursday the 16th. The setup featured a 45 knot mid level flow and a 95 knot upper level jet. Matter of fact, a larger area of showers, associated with a warm front, had moved across southeast Ohio and West Virginia during the morning and midday hours. This kept the surface based instability at a minimum. However, new cells formed further west during the mid afternoon over western Ohio. It was this new cluster of convection that would intensify due to the strong mid and upper level dynamics. Several of the new cells formed and intensified on the southern or southwestern flank of the overall larger area of showers and thunderstorms. This area of convection stretched further to the northeast into eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. This allowed an unimpeded low level moisture inflow into the new development. Surface dew points ahead of the cold front reached into the mid 60s.

Most of the severe thunderstorms exhibited strong rotation, resulting in the spawning of 5 tornadoes. Four of these 5 tornadoes were in southeast Ohio. One of the 4 Ohio tornadoes crossed from Fairfield County into western Perry County. Another 1 of the 4 crossed from Perry into northwestern Morgan County. One tornado patch was solely in Athens County. Finally, the last of the 4 tornadoes in Ohio crossed the Ohio River from northeastern Meigs County into southern Wood County in West Virginia. This tornado was the strongest and resulted in a fatality on the West Virginia side of the Ohio River. The last direct death from a tornado in West Virginnia was back in June of 1982. Finally, the last short tornado path in this outbreak was solely in western West Virginia, located in Wirt County.