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EF1 tornado in Banks County, Georgia

Tornado May 14, 2014 · Banks County, Georgia

EF1

Rating

7.8 mi

Path length

200 yd

Path width

$50K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A National Weather Service survey team determined that an EF-1 tornado touched down to the north of Homer in a heavily wooded area where it snapped the trunks of numerous mature hardwood trees as well as causing minor roof damage to one home. The torando was widest at the beginning of the path. It continued moving quickly to the northeast where more trees were downed and snapped along the track. Four additional homes also received minor roof damage. The tornado produced EF-0 damage to trees before lifting in a wooded area in northeast Banks County.

[05/15/14: Tornado #1, County #1-1, EF1, Banks, 2014:007].

The wider storm

A vigorous spring system pushed across the Southeast on the 14th and 15th, with a cold front extending from the Ohio Valley into the southeast states. Moderate instability combined with moderate shallow and deep-layer shear allowed of widespread showers and thunderstorms, several of which became severe with several reports of wind damage. Two tornadoes occurred as well. Training thunderstorms occurred over Bleckley County the evening of the 14th with intense rainfall of 4 to 6 inches. Isolated flash flooding caused some minor damage to two homes in the Cochran area.

Began near Homer (34.3542, -83.5003).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF0 Dodge County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 518593. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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