Is West Virginia actually safe from tornados?

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — Because West Virginia is the only state completely within the Appalachian Mountains, it’s usually considered exempt from certain natural disasters like tornados, but is it really?

Although tornados are uncommon in the Mountain State, West Virginia has already seen several of them in 2024, including one in Fayette County and several in Kanawha County.

With those tornados added, the National Weather Service announced on April 25, 202 4 that it has deemed Kanawha County the most tornado-prone county in West Virginia, with 16 tornados documented there since 1875.

After Kanawha, the most tornado-prone counties are Berkeley, Preston, Wood and Monongalia.

As of publication, there are only seven counties in West Virginia that have not had a documented tornado—Hancock, Hardy, Pocahontas, Webster, Roane, Calhoun and Clay.

Although most tornados in West Virginia are minor, several F4 and EF4 tornados have been reported in the state, including one that is considered among the deadliest in U.S. history . It touched down in Harrison County on June 23, 1944, and went through Barbour, Marion and Randolph counties, killing 103 people and destroying 404 homes.

According to the National Weather Service, of the 117 West Virginians who have been killed in tornados, most of them were before 1950.

And although there is still a chance of a tornado—maybe even a massive one—in West Virginia, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Risk Index has all of the Mountain State in the relatively low to very low risk level.

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