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EF1 tornado in Webster County, Georgia

Tornado April 5, 2017 · Webster County, Georgia

EF1
Rating
14.7 mi
Whole path
880 yd
Path width
$150K
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 880 yards (0.50 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 survey team found that the tornado that began in Randolph County and moved across southeastern Stewart County moved into Webster County at EF1 intensity, with maximum wind speeds of 104 MPH and a maximum path width of 880 yards, south of Goodwins Pond Road. The tornado continued moving east crossing Highway 41 and Highway 520 before ending around the intersection of Hudson Leverette Road and County Road 23. The damage was mostly to trees, power lines, and small farm outbuildings. One peanut farm storage building was destroyed, but fortunately the employees had been sent home earlier in the day due to the threat for severe weather. The owner of the farm had left minutes prior to the arrival of the tornado after receiving a phone call stating that Weston was in the path of the storm. No injuries were reported. [04/05/17: Tornado #3, County #2/2, EF-1, Stewart, Webster, 2017:062].

The wider storm

Another strong short wave, the second in three days, rotated through a large and deep upper-level trough over the eastern U.S. A deep surface low and strong cold front moved through the state combining with moderate instability and strong low-level shear to produce another round of widespread severe weather across north and central Georgia, including several tornadoes.

Began near Weston (31.9558, -84.6549).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 698330. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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