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EF1 tornado in Washington County, Georgia

Tornado May 20, 2008 · Washington County, Georgia

EF1
Rating
4.8 mi
Whole path
125 yd
Path width
$76K
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Hancock County → Washington County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 125 yards (0.07 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Georgia confirmed that the EF0 tornado, that initially touched down just inside Hancock county just south of Barnes Road and just west of Georgia Highway 15, crossed into Washington county and tracked four to five miles, ending just west of Hamburg State Park Road. The tornado tracked very close to Sparta-Davisboro Road until the eastern part of its track. The maximum path width was estimated to be 125 yards with maximum winds of 90 to 100 mph within Washington county. The tornado tracked through a largely rural area. Between 200 and 300 trees were blown down along the path of the tornado and one barn was partially destroyed. No major structural damage or injuries were observed or reported.

The wider storm

An active and very unstable northwest flow continued across the southeast United States as the polar vortex remained very strong in the northeast United States. A disturbance rotated around the back side of the upper low into the southeast United States during the afternoon and evening. Multiple complexes of severe thunderstorms developed across north and central Georgia during the mid to later afternoon as a result and moved southeast during the evening hours. Large hail was the primary severe weather element observed during this outbreak, however an EF2 tornado developed in Cherokee county and caused extensive damage to hundreds of homes. This was the 45th tornado of the spring season for north and central Georgia.

Began near Lindsey (33.1769, -82.8691).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

2 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 106421. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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