EF0 tornado in Marion County, Georgia

An aerial and ground survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Georgia concluded that the EF0 tornado that originated in Stewart county and then tracked through Chattahoochee county, continued into Marion county. The tornado entered Marion county about three miles northwest of Union, where Georgia Highway 137 touches the Chattahoochee county line. The tornado then continued on an east-northeastward track across the county exiting into Taylor county across Georgia Highway 127/240C, about one mile south of Mauk. The tornado passed about fives miles north of the county seat, Buena Vista, crossing Georgia Highway 41 at that point. The tornado had a estimated tornado path length was approximately 18 miles with a maximum path width of 100 yards. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down along the spotty damage path of the tornado, including several large trees which were uprooted at the Johnson Cemetery. The most significant damage occurred to a manufactured home, which was heavily damaged, in the northeast part of the county near Five Points on Johnson Cemetery Road, just off Georgia Highway 240, or about two miles south of Mauk. The home was destroyed and a large barn behind the home suffered significant damage as well. The adjacent mobile home also sustained some damage. No injuries were reported within the county.

An intense closed upper low was rotating negatively from the southern plains toward the Ohio Valley. A strong cold front in advance of this system was moving across Mississippi into Alabama during the evening of the 17th. A wedge cold front was located across north and central Georgia. Very warm, unstable air was present across southern Alabama and southern Georgia, south of the wedge front. While only marginal instability was present, very strong shear was noted with a 60-70 knot low-level jet evident across Alabama and western and central Georgia. These systems combined to bring a strong squall line of thunderstorms to west and north Georgia during the mid and late afternoon hours. Most of the damage associated with this line of thunderstorms was straight-line wind damage. However, an isolated embedded EF1 tornado within a quasi-linear convective system did occur in west central Georgia in Carroll county. Meanwhile, along the southern end of the convective line, a long-lived supercell tracked from southern Alabama into southwest Georgia, south of Columbus, and continued on a near 100-mile track across west central and central Georgia from just south of Fort Benning to just northeast of Macon. Multiple tornadoes, ranging in strength from EF0 to EF1 were reported within broken segments along the track of this supercell, resulting in considerable damage to trees, power lines, and property. Several injuries were reported during the stronger portion of the tornadic supercell in Taylor and Crawford counties, southwest of Macon.