EF1 Tornado — Bibb, Georgia

2011-04-16 · near Rivoli, Bibb, Georgia

Event narrative

A damage survey conducted by meteorologists from the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Georgia confirmed that an EF1 tornado touched down approximately five miles northwest of Macon and tracked 2.5 to 3.5 miles lifting approximately five miles north-northwest of Macon. The tornado tracked through the northern suburbs of Macon between Interstate-475 and Interstate-75, just south of the Monroe county line yet lifting just before reaching the Jones county line. The maximum path width was determined to be 500 yards. The maximum wind in the tornado was determined to be 110 mph. Extensive damage was reported from a largely residential area of Bibb county. From 20 to 25 homes sustained sustained damage. Four of these homes were destroyed and another 10 of these suffered major damage. A motel and an adjacent commercial building suffered roof damage. Two storage buildings were destroyed or heavily damaged. At least 200 trees were uprooted, snapped, or blown over by the tornado. There were no fatalities or injuries reported from this tornado.

[04/15-04/16/11: Tornado #3, County #1-1, EF1, Bibb, 2011:009].

Wider weather episode

A deep, slow moving, negatively tiltled and highly diffluent upper trough was sweeping from the south central into the southeast U.S. during the April 15th and 16th period. A strong Pacific cold front accompanied the upper-level trough. An unseasonably warm, moist and unstable air mass was present across the southeast U.S. in advance of this weather system. An initial line of strong to severe thunderstorms began to move into northwest Georgia during the late afternoon hours of April 15th. As the line progressed further into the state, it evolved more in a large area of showers and thunderstorms with discrete supercells across especially central Georgia. These supercells produced damaging winds, hail, and three tornadoes. As the event continued into the early morning hours of the 16th, the severity decreased, but widespread rain and thunderstorms, along with isolated severe thunderstorms continued until around daybreak. In addition to the severe weather events, the prolonged and heavy rain event resulted in flash flooding along north Atlanta metropolitan area creeks and streams.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.8628, -83.7160)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 300455. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.