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EF1 tornado in Cook County, Georgia

Tornado April 23, 2020 · Cook County, Georgia

EF1
Rating
37.2 mi
Whole path
650 yd
Path width
$200K
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 650 yards (0.37 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

This long-track tornado was produced by the same thunderstorm that spawned a tornado in upstream Pelham, GA. The tornado touched down south of Moultrie, GA just west of U.S. 319 and produced damage consistent with EF-1 winds through most of its

long track. Most of the damage was in the form of snapped or uprooted trees. As the tornado crossed GA route 133, it caused significant damage to a warehouse at the Farmer's Gin and Peanut Company. The tornado reached its maximum intensity of 110 mph, which is just shy of EF-2, at the east end of Pike Creek Turf Circle. Here it snapped many large pine trees at their base. The tornado caused some minor roof damage to a home on McConnell Bridge Road before flipping a small plane upside down at the Cook County Airport. The tornado crossed I-75 at the Adel, GA exit damaging several billboards and tall signs. In downtown Adel, the tornado ripped off large sections of two warehouses on 3rd Street belonging to the Adel Ice Company. Many trees were toppled onto homes in the vicinity of East 9th and 10th Streets. Winds were

estimated to be 95-100 mph in Adel. The tornado continued eastward snapping a few trees on GA Highway 37 East and in the Indian Creek Road subdivision. The tornado then snapped trees on Register Road and significantly damaged a large shed before

lifting.It should be noted that a large swath of straight-line wind damage occurred to the south of the tornado track along much of its length from the Langdale Parkway in Colquitt County through Cecil, GA and eastward into northwestern Lanier County. These winds were estimated to be 90-95 mph in Cecil.

The wider storm

Another in a series of strong upper level troughs pushed through the southeast states, resulting in another enhanced risk of severe storms from the Storm Prediction Center. The tri-state area was hit fairly hard again, with numerous reports of wind damage documented along with several tornadoes.

Began near Pine Valley (31.1308, -83.5569).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 890129. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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