EF1 tornado, Pendleton and Rockingham counties, West Virginia and 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 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, as surveyed

EF1, preliminary

Date

July 21, 2026

Touchdown

7:20 PM EDT (23:20 UTC)

Lifted

7:45 PM EDT (23:45 UTC)

On the ground

25 minutes

Path length

12.9 miles (20.8 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Pendleton and Rockingham counties

Touchdown point

38.683, -79.292

Lift-off point

38.731, -79.062

Highest wind the damage implies

100 mph

Surveyed by

NWS LWX

The office's name for it

Kiser Gap WV

Survey last edited

July 29, 2026

Record number

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

Scattered to numerous large trees uprooted and snapped along the

path that started along Kiser Gap Road a half mile north of the

intersection with US Route 33. The tornado tracked east-

northeast. Where it crossed the 1600 block of Troublesome Valley

Road it snapped a tree down over the road on a vehicle. The driver

was extracted uninjured.

Substantial tree damage continued over the 1000 to 2300 blocks of

Corner Road, and 6500 to 7000 blocks of Sweedlin Valley Road and

the 300 block of Redbud Hill Lane. The tornado then tracked

through an unpopulated, wooded area across the ridge/state line. It

reached the 24300 block of Gochenour Lane 3 miles southwest of

Criders. The damage continued up Gobble Mountain before lifting.

In summary, thousands of trees were downed along this rural 10.5

mile path. In peak intensity areas, most of the trees in the path

were uprooted or snapped. Structural damage was mainly from tree

falls, although there was some wind damage to siding and

outbuildings noted.

The National Weather Service thanks the Pendleton County Office of

Emergency Management for their invaluable assistance to this

survey.

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

8 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 100 mph.

• Numerous trees snapped and uprooted.
• Numerous trees uprooted and large branches snapped.
• Widespread trees uprooted and snapped along Corner Road. Old barn blown over.
• Tree down on vehicle over road. Numerous trees snapped and uprooted.

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

24 minutes of warning. NWS LWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:56 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 18:47 UTC and running to 01:07 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.

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 149 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:16 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 West VirginiaEvery tornado in West Virginia since 1950Warnings in force in West Virginia 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.