Tornadoes and Damaging Wind in West Virginia, June 16, 1998

The approach of a cold front combined with impressive jet stream energy aloft acted on an unstable low-level atmosphere to produce a severe weather episode across eastern West Virginia for the second time in as many days. The combustible situation produced a mesoscale low pressure system which focused the most substantial severe weather in north-central Maryland and the eastern West Virginia panhandle. The episode featured two small tornadoes and one wind damage event.The main event was a short-lived tornado which tracked through the small community of Swan Pond just east of Martinsburg. In Swan Pond Orchard, the tornado ripped a garage off the back of a home and knocked down eight miniature apple trees. The twister moved through a heavily wooded area, knocking down numerous trees before tracking across an open field where it tore the roof off a barn. It also flipped a trailer, moved a hay wagon, blew out doors to a hangar, and damaged a cinder block outbuilding.This was the second tornado associated with the parent thunderstorm. The first, perhaps a continuation of one that had struck in extreme northern Frederick Co Virginia moments earlier, cut a brief path across extreme southern Berkeley Co near Ridgeway. Several trees were blown down, including one onto a mobile home and two more onto nearby homes. Interestingly, this same storm would spawn three more tornadoes in Washington Co, Maryland, a bit later.In southeastern Jefferson Co, trees were knocked down along federal highway 340 near Harpers Ferry and along state route 9 just east of the Shenandoah River.