EF2 tornado in Gwinnett County, Georgia

A damage survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Georgia confirmed that an EF2 tornado touched down near Holland Park Drive in east central Gwinnett county, or about five miles northwest of Dacula. The tornado then tracked slightly over two miles to the north-northeast between Mountain View High School and Twin Rivers Middle School before lifting just east of the intersection of Gravel Springs Road and Interstate-85. The tornado was determined to have a path width of 300 yards with maximum wind gusts of 130 mph. Extensive damage was observed to homes mainly in the Kirkstone Subdivision of Buford. A total of 56 homes and one business along the path of the tornado sustained at least minor damage. Of these, 15 to 20 homes sustained major damage or were destroyed and thus were declared uninhabitable. One of these homes collapsed on itself. Damage to homes and property was estimated by the state insurance commissioner to exceed $5 million.

A deep full-latitude upper trough was sweeping from the central into the eastern U.S. The trough brought a quick transition to the eastern U.S. from mild fall temperatures to an extended period of well below normal temperatures. As the trough swept through the southeastern U.S. on November 30th, it took on a significant negative tilt. Although only marginal instability was noted because of extensive pre-frontal cloud cover and light to moderate rain showers, a strong 50-60kt low-level jet accompanied the trough as it rotated through Georgia during the afternoon of November 30th. This was sufficient combined with minimal instability (CAPE) in place at the time to support the development of a fairly well marked, yet very narrow, quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) which spawned two tornadoes, one an EF2 causing extensive damage to homes in Gwinnett county, and another weaker tornado in Henry county. In addition, the squall line or QLCS also produced numerous damaging wind events across north and central Georgia.