EF1 tornado in Upson County, Georgia

A National Weather Service survey team found that the EF1 tornado that began in Talbot County moved into Upson County with maximum winds of 105 MPH and a maximum path width of 300 yards. The tornado crossed the Flint River into Upson County in the Sprewell Bluff State Park where it snapped and uprooted trees and overturned a small outbuilding. At this point the tornado, which had been moving northeast, turned more easterly crossing Double Bridges Road, where at least 3 dozen trees were downed across the roadway, before crossing Roland Road north of Highway 36 downing more trees and damaging the roof a home. Further east the tornado crossed Hollman Drive and Sunnyside Road where it crossed the path of another tornado that had passed just minutes before. The tornado ended near Highway 36 just northeast of Roland. This tornado followed a path nearly 10 miles long across Talbot and Upson Counties. [01/21/17: Tornado #4, County #2/2, EF1, Talbot-Upson, 2017:005].

Throughout the weekend of the 21st and 22nd, persistent southwesterly upper-level flow brought a series of strong short waves across the region. The atmosphere over central Georgia was unseasonably warm and unstable with strong low and mid-level shear. The first short wave generated a wave of severe thunderstorms across central and south Georgia through the morning and into the afternoon of the 21st that produced numerous tornadoes. Twenty three tornadoes were confirmed in the WFO Peachtree City warning area with 27 total tornadoes confirmed in the state of Georgia, both records for the number of tornadoes in a single day. A second, stronger short wave swept through during the late morning and afternoon of the 22nd bringing another round of severe weather to central and south Georgia. Additional tornadoes confirmed brought the 2-day total to 27 for the WFO Peachtree City warning area and 41 for the state of Georgia, both a record number for a 2 day period.