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F2 tornado in Dawson County, Georgia

Tornado November 11, 2002 · Dawson County, Georgia

F2
Rating
23.0 mi
Whole path
100 yd
Path width
13
Injuries
$7.6M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Cherokee County → Pickens County → Dawson County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F2 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F2 meant considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted; the scale paired it with winds of 113–157 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The Dawson county Emergency Management Director reported that the tornado that originated in Cherokee county and traveled across Pickens county, entered Dawson county in the Big Canoe area and continued to just east-northeast of the Big Canoe area before dissipating. Two double-wide mobile homes were completely destroyed just east of the Big Canoe area as large trees fell on the structures. While the contents of one were salvagable, those of the other were destroyed. Three injuries occurred at one of these mobile homes as the residents were trapped by the downed trees on the structure. In addition, there were four other homes that received minor damage in the Big Canoe area. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down in the area of the tornado and some roads were temporarily blocked as a result. Dawson county was one of five counties declared in a state of emergency by the governor.

Began near Juno (34.4167, -84.2667).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

3 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

F2 Bartow CountyF0 Monroe CountyF0 Bibb County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5321962. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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