EF0 tornado in Butts County, Georgia

An aerial survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, GA in cooperation with the Georgia State Patrol confirmed that an EF0 tornado touched down in southwest Butts county and made a three mile track across southern Butts county. The tornado touched down near the intersection of Joe Land Road and Kinards Mill Road and lifted near the intersection of Brooks Road and Nathan Thaxton Road. The path length was between three and four miles long. The Emergency Management Director reported that 136 homes suffered minor damage. In addition, one barn was destroyed and many trees were blown down along the path of the tornado. The combination of the high winds and quarter-sized hail caused the siding and paint on several homes to be damaged.

The pattern that began to evolve on March 14th continued and intensified on March 15th. A stationary front remained draped across north Georgia from near Atlanta to Athens. South of this front, the air mass was becoming increasingly warm, moist and unstable. Meanwhile, aloft, a low amplitude, yet vigorous short wave embedded within a fast zonal flow, was tracking rapidly eastward from the mid south into the southeast. Strong shear and high helicity combined with the unstable air mass and the frontal boundary to allow repeated severe thunderstorms to develop and track eastward along the boundary across north Georgia. The activity began early in the day as a complex of thunderstorms moved into the area from Alabama and continued until nearly midnight. As the day progressed, especially during the afternoon, the development of the activity gradually progressed further south and by midnight had reached the south and southeast parts of the state. Numerous severe thunderstorms and tornadic supercells were observed throughout the day.

Historical records indicate that this was one of the most significant severe weather days for the Peachtree City Weather Forecast Office with more events and warnings than had been observed since May 2003.