EF0 tornado in Crisp County, Georgia

A damage survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Georgia in conjunction with the Sumter and Crisp County Emergency Management Offices confirmed that the brief EF0 tornado that touched down in extreme southeast Sumter county on the west shore of Lake Blackshear lifted 3/4 mile across the Crisp county side of Lake Blackshear, approximately two miles south-southwest of Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park. No damage was observed from this tornado on the Crisp county side of the lake as the tornado lifted before reaching the eastern shore. The total tornado path length was 3/4 mile with a maximum path width of 200 yards. Maximum winds gusts in the tornado were estimated to be 80 mph.

[03/26-03/27/11: Tornado #1, County #2-2, EF0, Sumter-Crisp, 2011:001].

A quasi-stationary frontal boundary extended from north Texas to north Georgia early on the 26th. The front took two to three days to move from north Georgia southward to the Gulf Coast. The upper flow was highly zonal, but embedded with numerous vigorous short waves. An unseasonably warm, unstable air mass presided south of the frontal boundary. Numerous areas and complexes of thunderstorms developed in waves repeatedly along the front boundary and plagued north and central Georgia for two to three days. Many counties across the area were impacted by golf ball and larger hail. There was one report of hail over four inches in diameter in west central Georgia near Newnan. While hail was the predominate severe weather type with this outbreak, there were several reports of damaging winds and even one tornado in central Georgia. In addition, there were several lightning incidents as many of the storms produced intense cloud-to-ground lightning.