EF3 Tornado — Hancock, Georgia

2009-04-10 · near Sunshine, Hancock, Georgia

Event narrative

A damage survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Georgia confirmed that yet a third tornado touched down in Hancock county within a 15 minute period of time. However, this tornado was determined to be an EF3 tornado. This tornado touched down about halfway between Sparta and Culverton in east central Hancock county. The tornado was determined to have a maximum path width of 1/2 mile with maximum winds of 160 mph. Much of the damage occurred along Dunn and Hickory Grove Roads. Along the path of the tornado, one 4000 square foot site-built home was completely destroyed. The debris from the home was scattered across an area up to 400 feet downstream. A resident of this home suffered serious injuries. Another nearby double-wide mobile home was also completely destroyed. Two other nearby homes on Dunn suffered minor damage and two additional homes on Youngblood Road toward Jewell suffered extensive roof damage. A swath of 116 mature pecan trees at a pecan orchard on Hickory Grove road were flattened. These were owned by a resident adjacent to one of the damaged homes on Hickory Grove Road. One of the homeowners also lost a Shetland pony during the tornado.

Wider weather episode

A vigorous upper closed low was moving from the mid-south and Mississippi valley region into the mid-Atlantic and southeast U.S. A strong cold front accompanied the upper system. A strong low-level jet in advance of these weather systems transported warm, moist Gulf air northward into the region. With strong dynamics, hence shear, combined with an unusually moist, unstable atmosphere, the atmosphere was primed for a major weather outbreak. One round of thunderstorms passed through north Georgia during the early morning hours. A few minor severe weather events accompanied this system in northwest Georgia. Partial clearing followed the morning convection, allowing temperatures to soar into the mid 70s across much of north and central Georgia in advance of the main weather system. Scattered to numerous discrete supercell thunderstorms developed during mid-afternoon in northwest Georgia and progressed east and southeast across the remaining portions of the county warning area during the evening hours. Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes lingered into the early morning hours of the 11th across the southern counties of central Georgia. During the eight hour period from 5 pm EDT on April 10th to 1 am EDT on April 11th, a total of 14 tornadoes were confirmed to have touched down in north and central Georgia causing millions in damages. While some injuries were observed, no deaths were observed.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.2922, -82.9350)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 163277. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.