Home / Georgia / Effingham

EF1 tornado in Effingham County, Georgia

Tornado February 9, 2017 · Effingham County, Georgia

EF1

Rating

9.8 mi

Whole path

300 yd

Path width

Injuries

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 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 storm survey team confirmed a tornado that tracked from southeastern Bulloch County to southwest Effingham County in Georgia on 02/09/2017. The tornado tracked east-southeast approximately 9 miles southeast of Brooklet, GA to Pineora, GA. The following information occurred once the tornado crossed into Effingham County from Bulloch County.

The tornado crossed the Ogeechee River from Bulloch County into Effingham County, where most damage was in the EF1 range. Hundreds of snapped pine and oak trees were observed along the path of the tornado. Some minor structural damage was found to a few homes just south of Rt 119, near Elkins Cemetery Road. This damage was due to large trees falling on the homes and carports. Finally, after nearly 10 miles of damage and destruction, the tornado lifted just east of Highway 17 in Pineora, GA.

The wider storm

Strongly forced, organized convection ahead of a vigorous upper trough and associated cold front advanced into a marginally unstable environment featuring strong winds and wind shear. A single, persistent supercell within the environment tracked across Candler and Bulloch Counties before producing a tornado in eastern Bulloch and western Effingham Counties.

Began near Pineora (32.3232, -81.4679).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 679323. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.