EF1 tornado in Crisp County, Georgia

A damage survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Georgia confirmed that the third EF1 tornado to touch down in Sumter county the evening of April 10th, continued on a sporadic, but long path, across Crisp and into Wilcox county before lifting. The tornado crossed into Crisp county at Lake Blackshear, just south of the Georgia Veterans State Park. The tornado entered the county as an EF1 with a maximum path width of 200 yards. However, as the tornado crossed the lake into western Crisp county, it weakened to an EF0 with a maximum path width of 100 yards. Maximum winds were estimated at 100 mph as the tornado entered the county, but quickly weakened to 80 mph as it progressed across the lake. The path length within Crisp county was approximately 14 miles. Within Crisp county, 20 homes sustained minor to moderate damage. This damage was primarily the result of large downed trees on the structures. At least two to three dozen trees were down along the path of the tornado within Crisp county.

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.