EF2 tornado, Washington and Pleasants counties, Ohio and West Virginia, July 21, 2026

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating, as surveyed

EF2, preliminary

Date

July 21, 2026

Touchdown

4:14 PM EDT (20:14 UTC)

Lifted

4:30 PM EDT (20:30 UTC)

On the ground

16 minutes

Path length

13.3 miles (21.5 km)

Path width

600 yards (549 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Washington and Pleasants counties

Touchdown point

39.464, -81.428

Lift-off point

39.377, -81.212

Highest wind the damage implies

120 mph

Surveyed by

NWS RLX

The office's name for it

Washington to Pleasants #1

Survey last edited

August 4, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

The tornado began between Glendale Rd and Hartline Rd in the Caywood community, then tracked southeast through the Hills community, knocking over a silo and damaging several homes. The most intense damage and EF2 rating occurred along State Route 26 near the intersection with Township Road 635, where a roughly 600 yard long by 400 yard wide patch of pine trees was completely mowed down with every trunk snapped several feet above the ground. The tornado weakened while still causing sporadic tree damage as it continued to the southeast, crossing the Ohio River on the west side at Newell Run and entering West Virginia at Belmont damaging and rolling several camper trailers at Riverview Estates. The tornado then continued southeast up a ridge then skipped through the Green Run neighborhood before dissipating.

Thanks to the Washington County, OH Sheriff's Office and Emergency Management Agency, who provided excellent video of the track taken by their drone. Also, thanks to Tyler County, WV Search and Rescue for also providing drone imagery and an aerial survey of the track in West Virginia.

Written by NWS RLX in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

91 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS RLX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 130 mph.

• Large patch of trees snapped around Saint Marys Bridge
• Large bridge sign ripped off
• Estimated edge to tornado damage.
• Could see tree damage uphill on right of vehicle trough here

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

21 minutes of warning. NWS RLX issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:53 UTC, 21 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:20 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 17:15 UTC and running to 23:30 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:01 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Parkersburg (PKB), 14 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 128 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:12 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2026 tornado in OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

35 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.