- Rating: EF-0
- Location: Youngs Bottom, WV
- County: Kanawha
- Start Time: 6:45 p.m. (38.47, -81.44, time of tornado likely a few minutes beforehand)
- Estimated Peak Wind: 80 mph
- Path Length: 300 yards
- Path Width Maximum: 50 yards
- Fatalities: 0
- Injuries: 0
Details from NWS storm survey: The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado briefly touched down in Youngs Bottom just northeast of Elkview yesterday - March 19th at 645 pm. The tornado has been rated an EF-0, with winds estimated at 80 mph. The path of the tornado was 50 yards wide and 300 yards long. The tornado downed numerous trees, produced structural damage to several structures, rolled a camper into a telephone pole, lifted a pontoon boat onto a fence and damaged shingles on numerous structures. The wind gust of 85 mph (this was later revised to 84 mph, which was still a recorded) at Charleston's Yeager Airport yesterday March 19th was the highest wind gust ever recorded at the airport. The previous record high wind gust was 76 mph on July 26th 2007. Straight line winds of 70 to 100 mph were recorded around the Clendenin, Pinch and Elkview areas.
Radar Imagery
Panel of storm at time of tornado - click/tap on image for full resolution (Left: Base Reflectivity 0.5 degree, Right: Base Velocity 0.5 degree)
Panel loop - click/tap on image for full resolution (Left: Base Reflectivity 0.5 degree, Right: Base Velocity 0.5 degree)
Base Reflectivity Analyzed
This is a pretty classic look for a QLCS (Quasi-Linear Convective System) embedded tornado. The mesovortex (area surrounding tornado in above image that is often formed along the edge of a convective line, such as in this example) is formed near the inflow notch north of rear inflow jet - a common scenario for these types of systems.
Base Velocity Analyzed
Perhaps the most impressive part of this storm overall was the magnitude of wind that it produced. Just moments after the tornado was spawned in Youngs Bottom, a 98 mph reading was detected on base velocity returns at less than 1,100 feet above ground level. 5 minutes later, those returns peaked at a staggering 101 mph at only 1,350 feet above ground level in the Thorofare Road/West Union Road areas northeast of Clendenin. This extreme wind continued into northern Clay and far western Braxton counties before weakening, where an 88 mph wind gust was detected in a rural area along I-79 between Wallback and Big Otter 13 minutes later. Interestingly, dealiasing base velocity data doesn't indicate any rotation, only extreme wind values.
Normalized Rotation Analyzed
Weak rotation is detected on the normalized rotation (NROT) product just after the tornado touched down in Youngs Bottom, though the values are relatively low in comparison to what typically produces a tornado, with NROT values around 0.8, which is not considered significant. Nonetheless, this was within a minute or two after the tornado spawned in Youngs Bottom. The summation of all normalized rotation is shown below and clearly indicates the path of the rotating storm:
Spectrum Width Analyzed
The chaotic flow of the gust front is easily detected on spectrum width. A weak increase in values is also denoted in the area right after the tornado was spawned in Youngs Bottom.
Note: Though the emphasis of this article is on the tornado itself for documentation purposes, damaging wind gusts also caused quite a bit of damage. A few storm reports were recorded:
- Damaging Winds: 6:22 p.m. - Clendenin (Kanawha). Trees down. Event occurred between 5:52 p.m. and 6:22 p.m. The old record was 76 mph recorded on July 26th, 2007.
- Damaging Winds: 6:31 p.m. - 84 mph wind gust measured at Yeager Airport - a new record.
- Hail: 6:31 p.m. - Hail of 1/2" diameter recorded at Yeager Airport.
- Tornado: 6:45 p.m. - 3 miles northeast of Elkview (Kanawha). Confirmed EF-0 tornado in Youngs Bottom. Winds estimated at 80 mph. 50 yards wide. 300 yards long.
- Damaging Winds: 6:58 p.m. - Pinch (Kanawha). Multiple trees and power lines down in Pinch along Route 119.
- Damaging Winds: 7:23 p.m. - 3 miles northeast of Heaters (Braxton). Power lines down at Napier on Route 19.
- Damaging Winds: 7:23 p.m. - 1 mile north-northeast of Gassaway (Braxton). Chappel Road, tree down blocking road.
- Damaging Winds: 7:23 p.m. - Little Birch (Braxton). Bus house blown over into roadway on Old Route 19.
- Damaging Winds: 7:30 p.m. - Clendenin (Kanawha). Trailer blown off foundation.
