EF2 Tornado — Bibb, Georgia

2008-05-11 · near Lizella, Bibb, Georgia

Event narrative

A damage survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Georgia confirmed that an EF2 tornado touched down near Lizella and continued across Bibb county into extreme western Twiggs county near Dry Branch producing sporadic, but significant damage as it varied in intensity from EF0 to EF2. The tornado tracked from just east-northeast of Lizella across the south shores of Lake Tobesofkee, then across the city of Macon, producing widespread significant damage, and then eastward to the Twiggs county line. By far the most significant damage occurred within the city of Macon, especially along Eisenhower Parkway and Pio Nono Avenue where two businesses were completely destroyed and several others were heavily damaged. Macon State College was also hit by the tornado, destroying the gymnasium and causing significant damage to a number of other buildings on the campus. In addition, more than 50 percent of the trees on the campus either snapped in half or uprooted. Maximum wind speeds within the tornado were estimated at 130 mph, which occurred near the intersection of Eisenhower Parkway and Pio Nono Avenue. Nearly all of the 18 mile long path of the tornado fell within Bibb county. Less than one mile of the tornado occurred within Twiggs county. The maximum path width of the tornado was estimated to be 100 yards, mainly as it traveled through the Macon State College area.

A summary of damages from Bibb county shows that 1,479 homes suffered at least some damage as a result of the storms. Ninety-three of these homes were destroyed, 275 suffered major damage, and 569 sustained minor damage.

Wider weather episode

A stationary front was draped across north Georgia early on May 10th with an active northwest flow aloft. Meanwhile...a vigorous short wave aloft was approaching the area from the southern plains. The stationary front provided the focus for two rounds of showers and thunderstorms, one early in the morning on the 10th and another in the afternoon. The activity tracked east-southeast with the upper flow aloft, mainly across north Georgia during the early morning and across central Georgia during the afternoon. An isolated strong supercell also tracked across the southern part of central Georgia during the evening. After a lull of convective activity for about four hours, intense multicell thunderstorms tracked into the area from Alabama after midnight and before dawn on the 11th. As these thunderstorms tracked across west central and central Georgia, 15 tornadoes were identified by subsequent surveys making this the most significant tornado outbreak to affect the area since the Katrina-associated tornadoes on August 29, 2005. Millions of dollars of property damage were reported as many homes were destroyed from these tornadoes from the western and southern suburbs of Atlanta southeastward across Macon, Dublin, and other counties in east central and southeast Georgia. Many of these counties were eligible for disaster assistance from the federal government.

In addition to the tornadoes and thunderstorm winds that caused extensive damage in dozens of counties across north and central Georgia during the early morning hours of May 11th, strong gradient winds developed on the back side of the strong cold front that moved through the area as low pressure intensified across the mid-Atlantic region. The strong winds combined with wet ground resulted in dozens of trees being blown down in some north Georgia counties. There were also two deaths as a result of downed trees in Barrow and Gwinnett county, all non-thunderstorm-related winds.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.8215, -83.7841)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 101392. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.