Tornado, Grant
- When
- June 18, 2:15 PM EST
- Where
- Grant County, 2 mi E of Petersburg
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 0.3 mi
- Path width
- 20 yd
- Crop damage
- $15,000
- Coordinates
- 39.000, -79.080
Tornado and Damaging Wind in West Virginia, June 18, 1997
A severe thunderstorm developed in eastern Grant Co during the mid-afternoon of the 18th, moved into Hardy Co, and would eventually produce widespread minor to moderate damage in northern Virginia. The storm dropped a brief tornado in a wooded area east of Petersburg.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $2,000
- Crop damage
- $15,000
- Events
- 2
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS LWX wrote it up.
A severe thunderstorm developed in eastern Grant Co during the mid-afternoon of the 18th, moved into Hardy Co, and would eventually produce widespread minor to moderate damage in northern Virginia. The storm dropped a brief tornado in a wooded area east of Petersburg. Numerous small to medium trees and limbs were snapped off along a broken 500 yard long path. A resident near where the twister touched down noted a sharp pressure drop on his barometer as the storm passed by. Farther east, in Wardensville, two healthy trees were knocked down and a 2500 lb. hay wagon was moved by thunderstorm winds. Minor damage was caused when the wagon struck a parked pickup truck.
The radar
The Sterling radar (KLWX), 138 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:17 UTC.
Event by event
1 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm Wind, Hardy
- When
- June 18, 2:45 PM EST
- Where
- Hardy County, Wardensville
- Property damage
- $2,000
- Coordinates
- 39.080, -78.600
What these are
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
- Thunderstorm Wind
- Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Damaging Winds in Maryland, June 18, 1997
- Flash Flooding in Mississippi, June 18, 1997
- Tornadoes and Damaging Winds in Virginia, June 18, 1997
- Tornado and Hail in Wyoming, June 18, 1997
- Flash Flood and Damaging Wind in New York, June 18, 1997
- Flash Flooding and Lightning Strike in Ohio, June 18, 1997
- Damaging Winds in Georgia, June 18, 1997
- Flash Flood in Louisiana, June 18, 1997
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Virginia, June 18, 1997
- Flash Flood and Damaging Winds in North Carolina, June 18 to 24, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Nebraska, June 18, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Maryland, June 18, 1997
More
Every storm in West Virginia in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for West Virginia, 1997Warnings in West Virginia, June 1997
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5608425, 5608424.