EF2 tornado in Wilkinson County, Georgia

A damage survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Georgia concluded that an EF2 tornado had touched down in southwest Wilkinson county about 4.5 miles west-southwest of Nicklesville and tracked over 13 miles to a point nine miles northeast of Nicklesville. The maximum path width was 1/2 mile. The tornado traveled through a mostly rural area. Damage was confined mainly to trees and power lines. Most of the damage was focused along Georgia Highway 112. One home sustained minor to moderate damage.

A major, negatively tilted and closed upper trough rotated through the mid-south and southeast U.S. on March 1st. A 150kt jet was located over the region at 250mb with a strong 50kt low-level jet from central Alabama into central Tennessee. A wedge of cool air was present over much of north central and northeast Georgia. Rain, which spread over this area early in the day, helped enhance the wedge of cool air. Little to no severe weather was noted north of the wedge boundary across north Georgia where the air mass remained relatively cool and stable. Meanwhile...a warm, humid air mass was present across much of central and south Georgia where dewpoints had risen well into the 60s during the afternoon. The strong upper dynamics present over this region combined with the instability just south of the wedge provided a very favorable environment for long lived, strong tornadoes. A total of 14 tornadoes affecting 17 counties tracked across central and east central Georgia and within the Peachtree City, Georgia county warning area during the late afternoon and evening hours of March 1st. This was the second greatest number of tornadoes recorded to have occurred in the Peachtree City, Georgia forecast area within a 24-hour period, second only to the 16 tornadoes, affecting 18 counties, associated with Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005. The March 1st tornadoes spanned an area from Stewart county in the far southwest part of the county warning area to Warren county in the far east central portion of the county warning area. The first tornado touched down in Stewart county at 4:11 pm EST and the last tornado lifted in Marion county at 10:55 pm EST. By far the hardest hit county was Sumter county, and especially the city of Americus, where hundreds of homes and business, including the regional hospital, were heavily damaged or destroyed. Additional tornadoes were reported further south in Tallahassee and Jacksonville's, Florida's forecast areas. Federal disaster assistance had been approved for 1,836 households across the state for a total of $14.2 million. Another $5.8 million had been approved for public assistance of debris removal and to repair infrastructure. The Small Business Association also approved $7 million in disaster assistance loans. Overall damages, however, are estimated to be several hundred million.

Substantial rainfall fell across much of the state, but rainfall amounts of three to five inches were common across central and east central areas. The heaviest rainfall fell in the Hancock, Putnam, and Baldwin county areas, where some spots received in excess of six inches of rain. Some flooding was reported in these areas.