NWS confirms 2 tornadoes in Greene and Washington counties
DALLAS, W. Va. (KDKA) - The National Weather Service confirmed two tornadoes touched down in southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia after severe storms Monday.
An EF-2 tornado with maximum winds of 110 to 120 mph hit near the intersection of Washington, Ohio and Marshall counties.
The twister ripped off a roof and scattered debris in West Virginia before it made its way to Washington County, snapping dozens of trees along the way. The NWS said it grew quickly, going from 50 yards in size to nearly 400 in just a mile.
"I just walked out on my porch. My phone went off 'code red tornado warning in the area' and my boy was sitting across there on his porch and I was over talking to him and he said, 'look up in the sky,' so I looked up in the sky. And I thought it was a bunch of birds. But here, what it was it was leaves and little tree branches just floating around, falling to the ground," said Stephen Emery from West Finley Township.
Debris was flying across state lines, leaving behind a path of destruction.
"We've seen a barn destroyed, we've seen a two-by-four launch 200 feet and stuck in someone's roof," said Fred McMullen with the NWS.
The National Weather Service surveyed the damage Tuesday, calling it unusual for a tornado to touch down where it did.
"We've had a tornado in Washington County, October of 2021. Here we are, you know, 10 months later back in the same county with another tornado in a part of the county. The western part of the state typically historically did not see a lot of tornadoes in the last 70 years," McMullen said.
But McMullen said all ingredients were there to produce a supercell that made tornadoes across southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The second tornado, an EF-0 with maximum winds of 85 mph, touched down southeast of Graysville, Greene County.
NWS Pittsburgh says its area has now seen three tornadoes this year.
Cleanup is now underway for residents in West Virginia, Washington County and Greene County. So far, no injuries have been reported.
