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EF0 tornado in Burke County, Georgia

Tornado September 26, 2024 · Burke County, Georgia

EF0

Rating

2.3 mi

Path length

50 yd

Path width

$5K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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 brief tornado touched down just east of Vidette, GA on 9/26/24.

This was in association with the initial outer bands of Hurricane

Helene. The tornado is radar/EM confirmed as the widespread

damage to trees and infrastructure in Burke County, GA made it

impossible to survey this tornado after the fact. The tornado

produced tree and power line damage along its path before lifting

just north of State Route 305.

The wider storm

Tropical Storm Helene formed in the NW Caribbean Sea on September 24. Helene moved northward into the Gulf of Mexico where it strengthened into a hurricane on September 25. During the day on September 26, Helene remained off the coast of Florida and an upper low over the southeast US led to strong moisture transport and strong forcing over the area. Heavy rain rates and training bands led to flash flooding developing. Increasing shear associated with the hurricane also led to the development of several tornadoes in heavy rain bands.

Began near Vidette (33.0368, -82.2431).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1207221. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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