In the area, Kanawha County has shown to be the most tornado-prone county, according to the National Weather Service in Charleston.
The announcement follows an update to the Natural Hazard Risk Assessment by the NWS in Charleston that took into account the powerful storms and tornadoes that ripped through the Tri-State on April 2.
According to the NWS, Kanawha County currently holds the record for the most tornadoes ever recorded, with 16 occurring between 1875 and April 2024.
The NWS reports that Perry County, Ohio, and Washington County, Ohio, which both had 13 tornadoes between 1845 and April 2024, had previously held the record for the most tornadoes.
Berkeley County, which has 13 tornado records since 1875, held the previous West Virginia record.
Nine counties in Ohio, four counties in Kentucky, two counties in Virginia, and thirty-four counties in West Virginia are included in the NWS in the Charleston region.
According to the NWS, Ritchie County saw the first tornado ever recorded in West Virginia on August 11, 1875.
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The Mountain State has seen 188 recorded tornadoes since 1875, according to the NWS, and there may have been more that were not recorded. According to the NWS, 117 West Virginians have died as a result of those tornadoes, the most of them happened before 1950.
According to the NWS, there have been 47 tornadoes in West Virginia since 1875, the most of which have occurred in June. With 37 confirmed tornadoes, April is currently the second most active month after the storms on April 2.
July is in third place with 30 documented tornadoes. Since 1875, no month has gone without at least one tornado being seen.
The counties of Calhoun, Clay, Hancock, Hardy, Pocahontas, Roane, and Webster in West Virginia are listed as having never had a tornado recorded by the NWS.
The NWS reports that the storms on April 2nd produced the first tornado in Boyd County, Kentucky, since 1980; the first tornado in Fayette County, West Virginia, since 1990; and the first tornado in Putnam County, West Virginia, since 2000.
With five tornadoes registered on April 2 between 10 and 11 a.m. local standard time, the NWS claims that this was also the first time tornadoes had ever been reported in the area.
