EF1 tornado, Charles Town to Charles Town Arpt, West Virginia, May 3, 2021

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 mphthis tornado

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

3. EF2111 to 135 mph

   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

EF1

Date

May 3, 2021

Touchdown

6:27 PM EDT (22:27 UTC)

Lifted

6:32 PM EDT (22:32 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

1.8 miles (2.9 km)

Path width

125 yards (114 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$100,000

County

Jefferson County

Touchdown point

39.311, -77.865

Lift-off point

39.313, -77.832

Record number

2105031627-01

11 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LWX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 90 mph.

• 1 shed blown off foundation (nails and screws) 1 shed slid off foundation. Minor shingle and flashing damage. Trailer blown over into road. Few 3” limbs snapped. Insulation in power lines.
• Deck furniture blown off. Anemometer M68mph. Flashing damage E and W side of house.
• Multiple large branches snapped from 2 trees.
• Large 3” branch blown in different direction from most branches/debris.

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

An isolated, cyclic supercell thunderstorm tracking along a warm front produced sporadic straight-line wind damage and spawned several tornadoes.

A tornado touched down in Ranson West Virginia in the community|along Robelei Drive just west of West Virginia Route 115/Mildred|Street. The southernmost homes in this community were affected|with minor siding and shingle damage. One homeowner with a|personal home anemometer measured an unofficial 68mph wind gust.||The last two properties, those closest to 115, had the most|substantial damage. One outdoor shed was blown from its|foundation, and another shed was shifted from its foundation. The|trailer section of a tractor trailer was pushed a few feet|laterally, and then pushed over onto Route 115. The trailer was|being used for storage. Leaf spatter was noted on the homes, and|insulation and cardboard was lofted into the power lines along the|road. The most substantial damage was from a west wind. However|one property had lawn furniture blown in the opposite direction.|Several large tree limbs were snapped in differing directions.||Two separate residents noted receiving the NWS Tornado Warning|over their cell phones before the tornado hit, allowing time to|seek safety in their homes. They also reported seeing the tornado|moving into the next properties across WV-115.||As the storm crossed WV-115, several large branches were snapped|off trees in front of Two Crows Antique Mall. While many branches|were thrown east, a large one was also thrown to the northwest.||The tornado then struck a warehouse at Universal Forest Products|and reached peak intensity. On this property it pushed over a|large warehouse building that was partially opened along its|sides. The main beams of the building were large timbers secured|to the ground with bolts. The roof was tin and sections of that|roof were carried a half a mile into an adjacent community. People|were in the building at the time, but fortunately the only injury|was a minor leg abrasion to one person. Another smaller warehouse|building was also destroyed. It also caused roof and siding|damage to at least two other buildings on this property.||The tornado weakened substantially as it traveled east from the|warehouses. Debris, but not significant tree damage was noted|along Foal Street. Some intermittent damage continued into the|new Fairfax Crossing community where some minor siding and shingle|damage was noted as well as a few small ornamental trees that|were downed. Some final pieces of tin roof were noted here as|well.||The tornado was witnessed to the south by someone in the nearby|Potomac Marketplace shopping center as it crossed WV Route 9. From|there it passed through mobile home communities along Grayrock|Road and Cambridge Drive causing a few large branches to be|snapped as well as some roofing damage to at least one mobile|home. The tornado lifted before reaching Flowing Acres Road.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

1 minute of warning. NWS LWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:26 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:40 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.

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 49 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:24 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 2021 tornado in West VirginiaEvery tornado in West Virginia since 1950Warnings in force in West Virginia nowThe forecast where you are

30 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.