EF2 tornado in Talbot County, Georgia

A National Weather Service survey team found a long-track tornado path across southeast Talbot County that briefly crossed into Taylor County before crossing back into Talbot County and ending. The entire path length was nearly 22 miles and the maximum path width was 700 yards. The tornado path began south of Highway 80 near the Talbot-Muscogee County line moving northeast and causing minor tree damage in a wooded area. It then crossed Box Spring Road where it caused EF-1 damage in a residential area destroying 2 barns and uprooting several large trees. The tornado then briefly weakened causing sparse damage to trees as it continued to move northeast crossing US Highway 80 at Cusseta Highway and passing to the north of Geneva. The tornado began to strengthen considerably as it approached the area northwest of Junction City with EF-1 damage indicated by the flattening of a large swath of trees. At the Junction City Quarry, a power substation weighing approximately 2-3 tons was moved three feet off of its foundation. Along Rock Church Road the tornado reached a width of at least a quarter of a mile, blowing over trees along the road and damaging multiple manufactured homes. As the tornado continued along Stalling Lane large areas of pine trees were snapped and a mid-sized barn was flattened. The tornado continued to increase in strength, causing EF-2 damage about 1.5 miles north of Junction City where hundreds of trees were snapped at their bases and very few trees, if any, were left standing. As the tornado continued northeast crossing Lee Duncan Road southeast of Ingram Road, it was at its most intense with wind speeds estimated to be 120 mph and a maximum path width around 700 yards. The tornado knocked over trees onto a home and destroyed a barn with wood posts anchored about a foot into the ground. The tornado began to weaken as it continued to the northeast over mostly wooded areas causing more large swaths of snapped trees as it crossed Hwy 208 and briefly crossed into Taylor County. No injuries were reported. [04/27/17: Tornado #1/1, County #1/3, EF-2, Talbot, Taylor, Talbot, 2017:067].

Afternoon heating combined with ample, deep moisture over the region resulted in a moderately unstable atmosphere across the area by late afternoon. This unstable atmosphere combined with moderate shear and a strong cold front sweeping through north and central Georgia to produce a few severe thunderstorms and an isolated tornado across portions of central Georgia.