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EF1 tornado in Chattahoochee County, Georgia

Tornado April 19, 2015 · Chattahoochee County, Georgia

EF1
Rating
7.6 mi
Whole path
350 yd
Path width
$10K
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Russell County, Alabama → Chattahoochee County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 350 yards (0.20 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

The Ft. Benning Emergency Manager reported that a tornado moved across the Chattahoochee River from Alabama into Georgia and tracked across southern Ft. Benning. The tornado moved over mainly undeveloped, forested areas of Ft. Benning where numerous trees were downed. Based on information from the Emergency Manager and a NWS survey team from Birmingham, it was determined that the intensity was EF-1 with maximum wind speeds of 100 MPH and an average path width of 350 yards. [04/19/15: Tornado #1, County #1-1, EF1, Chattahoochee, 2015:005].

The wider storm

A strong short wave and moderate instability combined to produce widespread thunderstorms across north and central Georgia throughout the daytime on the 19th into the early morning hours of the 20th. Scattered severe thunderstorms with damaging winds occurred across the area. A warm front lifting north across central Georgia during the late morning and early afternoon provided sufficient wind shear to produce several short-lived tornadoes.

Began near Kasihta (32.3026, -84.9419).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 574684. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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