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F1 tornado in Heard County, Georgia

Tornado February 21, 1993 · Heard County, Georgia

F1
Rating
7.0 mi
Path length
500 yd
Path width
1
Injury
$5.0M
Damage as recorded
$50K
Crop damage
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 500 yards (0.28 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F1 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F1 meant moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken; the scale paired it with winds of 73–112 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The tornado touched down near Georgia Highway 100 near Ephesus and moved east- southeast and destroyed five chicken houses and killed 100,000 chickens. A dozen homes, both mobile and frame houses, were destroyed while 12 to 15 others sustained moderate to light damage. One church suffered major structural damage. Eight to nine vehicles were damaged from falling and wind driven debris. Over $40,000 worth of timber was destroyed. Two sawmills, a gristmill, a barn, and an antique warehouse were leveled by tornado winds east of Ephesus. Several large trees were twisted or snapped along the tornado path.

Began near Ephesus To (33.4000, -85.2500).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 10319078. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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