EF1 tornado in Coffee County, Georgia

An EF1 tornado with peak winds near 110 mph raced NE from just west of Nicholls in Coffee County to Norman Cole Circle in west-central Bacon county before it dissipated. Most damage occurred to trees and farm buildings, with some outbuildings totally destroyed. A tornado touched down near Saginaw along Georgia Highway 32 East

where EF0 tree damage was observed around 12:55 pm EST.

The tornado tracked to the northeast crossing Nicholls Road where

trees were uprooted. The circulation continued to track NE

crossing the intersection of Hazel Nut Road and Peachtree

Road where EF1 strength to 110 mph occurred due to total

destruction of a barn and outbuildings that were blown off

of their foundations and rolled across the property around 1 pm EST.

A couple of family homes in this area suffered roof damage and

utility poles were damaged. The tornado continued to track NE

crossing Roberts Cemetery Road, Dove Lane and Honey Suckle Road

where EF1 strength continued to caused tree and outbuilding

structure damage, including large hardwood trees blown down and

uprooted.

A strong pre-frontal squall line of strong to severe storms moved quickly eastward across SE GA and NE FL during the afternoon and exited off the SE GA coast into the Atlantic waters by the late afternoon and offshore of the NE FL coast by the evening. Strong dynamics with this system included a very strong low-level jet of 45-55 knots and 0-6 km shear of 50-70 knots, which along with good lapse rates aloft around 6.5 C/km and high dewpoints into the upper 60s created 500-800 J/KG of CAPE. These ingredients promoted threat of damaging wind gusts of 50-70 mph or greater, hail, and isolated tornadoes within more intense storms embedded within the Squall line.