EF3 Tornado — Gordon, Georgia

2011-12-22 · near Plainville, Gordon, Georgia

Event narrative

A damage survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Georgia confirmed that the EF0 tornado, that initially touched down in extreme northeast Floyd county and continued across extreme northwest Bartow county, continued into Gordon county. The tornado entered Gordon county about 2.8 miles east-southeast of Plainville before continuing on a northeastward track into central Gordon county, lifting and dissipating on the east side of Calhoun. The tornado strengthened to an EF1 almost immediately after entering Gordon county, then to an EF3 as it approached the south side of Calhoun. At its maximum intensity and size the tornado was determined to be 880 yards or 1/2 mile wide and had maximum winds of 150 mph. The tornado tracked at least 10 miles through Gordon county. As the tornado entered Gordon county, several homes along Emily Lane were damaged from falling trees just east of Plainville. As the tornado strengthened to an EF3 near the corner of Boone Ford Road and Beason Road just south of Calhoun, were several additional homes were damaged and one was completely destroyed. Numerous trees and power lines were also down along the path of the tornado through Gordon county, including several blocking Interstate-75 near the Bartow county line. Four injuries were also reported from the destroyed home.

[12/22/11: Tornado #2, County #3-3, EF3, Floyd-Bartow-Gordon, 2011:028].

Wider weather episode

A deep trough, quite characteristic of the early winter season of 2011-2012, was anchored across the southwest U.S. with broad southwest flow aloft evident from the southwest U.S. toward the mid-Atlantic. A summer-like Bermuda high pressure area was anchored off the southeast U.S. coast. A stationary front extended across the lower Mississippi valley toward the mid-Atlantic with a cold front approaching from the west of this region from Texas toward the Great lakes. The air mass across the region in advance of the stationary front was extremely moist, warm, and unstable for mid-December. As an embedded strong short wave traversed the region in the southwest flow aloft, a period of strong shear and marginal instability translated across the region during the late afternoon and early evening. These synoptic features supported a strong to severe quasi-linear convective system, or squall line, which moved across the state from west to east during the late afternoon and evening. The line of thunderstorms spawned a half-a-dozen tornadoes causing extensive damage across several counties from west central into northwest and north central Georgia. As the line moved east past Atlanta, it weakened considerably and no further severe weather was observed across east Georgia. The six tornadoes occurring on this date tied the record for the most tornadoes ever occurring during December within the Peachtree City, Georgia county warning area in December, namely six in 2005.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.3900, -84.9900)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 357515. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.