August 1st, 2022: Ohio/Marshall Counties

  • Rating: EF-2
  • Location: Dallas, WV
  • County: Ohio, Marshall
  • Start Time: 7:05 p.m. (40.03, -80.54)
  • End Time: 7:09 p.m. (40.01, -80.51)
  • Estimated Peak Wind: 111-120 mph
  • Path Length: 1.75 miles
  • Path Width Maximum: 350 yards
  • Fatalities: 0
  • Injuries: 0

Details from NWS storm survey: The National Weather Service conducted a storm survey in Ohio, Marshall, and Washington counties. An EF2 tornado was determined based on the visible tree damage. The tornado touched down just west of the end of Sparrow Lane off of Dallas Pike Road where a barn was completely destroyed. In addition, a camper was overturned and destroyed on the property. The tornado continued east knocking down numerous trees along Dallas Pike Road, both hardwood and softwood. Most of the trees that sustained damaged were snapped at the trunk. The storm did tear off the roof of a 160-year-old barn off of Rock Valley Farm Road. Down and snapped trees continued east-southeast crossing into Pennsylvania before it lifted just east of Fraction Road in Washington County. There was a church parsonage that sustained major roof damage off of Dallas Pike Road. The National Weather Service would like to thank Marshall and Ohio County Emergency Management Agency for their assistance today along with the Dallas Volunteer Fire Department. 

Photos of Damage

All photos from this storm event are provided by Tom Hart of Cameron, WV. Tap/click here for many more photos he has provided.



Radar Imagery

Panel of storm at time of tornado - click/tap on image for full resolution (Clockwise from top left: Base Reflectivity 0.5 degree, Base Velocity 0.5 degree, NROT 0.5 degree, Correlation Coefficient 0.5 degree)


Panel loop - click/tap on image for full resolution (Clockwise from top left: Base Reflectivity 0.5 degree, Base Velocity 0.5 degree, NROT 0.5 degree, Correlation Coefficient 0.5 degree):



Base Reflectivity Analyzed




A pretty classic supercell with plenty of features to denote, including the rear flank gust front, forward flank gust front, hook echo, rear flank core, bounded weak echo region (BWER) forward flank core and the tornado itself.


Base Velocity Analyzed




Once again, another classic supercell look, with tight gate-to-gate shear. The inflow notch is also discernible with this storm.


Correlation Coefficient Analyzed




Though the image is a bit noisy, there is a small drop in correlation coefficient values right at the location where gate-to-gate shear is present, perhaps indicating some branches and other pieces of debris being lofted. There is also much smoother yet still a drop in CC values north of the circulation in the forward flank core, which is likely either some small hail or melting hail. No hail reports were received for this storm.


Specific Differential Phase Analyzed





Some moderate values of positive KDP indicated some large rain drop sizes or perhaps some water-coated hail in the storm. The radar is scanning at about 2,300 feet above radar ground level so some hail melting is certainly possible.


Maximum Estimated Hail Size Analyzed


Estimated hail sizes this high likely would still yield some small hail at the ground, as we're in the neighborhood of 0.75 - 1.0". Some very small hailstones likely made it to the ground but a lot of melting of hailstones also most likely took place.


Normalized Rotation Analyzed


NROT values are in the neighborhood of 1.1 to 1.2 - this indicates significant rotation with the supercell at the time that the tornado spawned. As you see in the summation of normalized rotation below, this storm rotated for several miles before spawning the tornado near Dallas, which is where peak rotation values were recorded:





Spectrum Width Analyzed


Spectrum Width is pretty handy in this example, displaying the variability in movement going on at the time the tornado spawned. You can also see the rear flank downdraft with the smoother and lower values north of the area of circulation.

When Spectrum Width is summed, you can clearly see the path of the rotating storm due to the chaotic nature of the particles within the rotation itself:



Vertically Integrated Liquid Density Analyzed


Once again, little evidence of large hailstones as VILD values are on the low side - perhaps some melting hail making it down to the ground, but they would be small stones in size.


Differential Reflectivity Analyzed



The application of ZDR here is quite helpful in seeing this storm. You can see the tornado debris signature with the local minimum grouping of values. In addition, there's likely hail melting north of the circulation in the rear flank downdraft and forward flank core with very high ZDR values, indicating either very large rain drops or some hail mixing in.


Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)