EF2 Tornado — Lowndes, Georgia

2014-12-29 · near Valdosta, Lowndes, Georgia

Event narrative

The tornado first developed just north of Langdales Pond and Old Clyattville Road on the south side of the city of Valdosta. Some of the most severe damage was near the beginning of the track as the tornado impacted Langdale Forest Products along Old Clyattville Road. Several large metal buildings were severely damaged or destroyed and the damage to those buildings was assigned the EF2 rating that is the maximum for this tornado. Some vehicles parked near those buildings were tossed around 70 yards across the street. Two rail cars nearby were also tipped over. The remainder of the track consisted of EF0 or EF1 damage as the tornado moved east and eventually dissipated near south Patterson Street and Dampier Street. That damage in the remainder of the track was a mixture of damage to buildings, trees, and power lines. Monetary damage was estimated.

This was the first tornado to directly affect the city of Valdosta since an F1-rated tornado on November 1, 1997.

Wider weather episode

A band of light to moderate rain was moving across the area on December 29th in association with a surface cold front. Along the leading edge of the area of rain, a shallow, mini-supercell developed and moved into Lowndes County, Georgia. No lightning was observed with the cell; the tops of the showers were generally below 15,000 feet. As the cell moved over Valdosta, a brief tornado spun up and produced damage up to EF2 intensity on the south side of Valdosta. This was the first tornado to directly affect the city of Valdosta since 1997.

This was an unusual case as atmospheric conditions were not very favorable, though not totally prohibitive, for significant tornadoes. Limited atmospheric instability reduced the overall intensity of showers, despite the one that tracked through Lowndes County, and most of the area just saw a few hours of steady, light to moderate rain.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (30.8157, -83.2833)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 547863. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.