EF1 Tornado — Gilmer, Georgia

2024-05-08 · near Tails Creek, Gilmer, Georgia

Event narrative

Aerial and ground surveys revealed a fairly significant yet brief

swath of damage on either side of Tails Creek Road (Hwy 282) from

a tornado. Most of the damage was to trees with hundreds of them

either snapped or uprooted in a path that was less than 1 mile.

Little to no additional reports of damage has been documented

beyond Woodridge Drive and Tails Creek Road/Hwy 282. Based on the

extent of the tree damage, confidence is high that max winds were

around 90 mph, making this a very brief EF-1 tornado.

Wider weather episode

Several waves of severe thunderstorms moved through the area from the evening hours of the 8th through the early afternoon hours of the 9th. Initial convection ahead of the first line was able to tap into ample shear to produce tornadic thunderstorms in Northwest GA. This threat transitioned more into a wind event as the first line moved through the morning of the 9th. This line continued southward into the metro causing sporadic wind damage. Thunderstorms weakened as they moved south of I20, however another line of severe made its way out of AL/TN, producing further wind damage in the North. The initial line slowly moved into the southern portion of the CWA where conditions were not as worked over and shear was stronger. Storms re-strengthened, with several producing brief tornados.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.6724, -84.6408)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1186090. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.