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EF1 tornado in Greene County, Georgia

Tornado August 17, 2021 · Greene County, Georgia

EF1
Rating
5.5 mi
Path length
100 yd
Path width
$100K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 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 determined that an EF1 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 90 mph and a maximum path width of 100 yards touched down west of Greensboro along Northwoods Drive, just north of Highway 278. The tornado traveled

north northwest along the eastern shore of Lake Oconee where several homes had trees snapped and uprooted around them. One home had several windows blown in. Along Arrowhead Road and Quail Trails numerous trees were snapped and uprooted and several boathouses were destroyed along with several outbuildings and sheds. Many homes suffered minor damage and a few had more significant damage where trees fell onto the homes. The tornado continued moving to the north northwest along the lake in mainly uninhabited areas until it crossed Greenbriar Drive where many large limbs and branches were blown down. The tornado dissipated after it crossed South M Copeland Road in a wooded area to the west of the road. [8/17/21: Tornado #4, County #1/1, EF-1, Greene, 2021:018].

The wider storm

The remains of Tropical Storm Fred moved across central and north Georgia as a tropical depression during the overnight hours through the morning producing isolated reports of damaging winds in convective bands and several tornadoes. No reports of wind damage were received outside of the stronger convective bands. Rainfall amounts exceeded 4 inches in portions of northeast Georgia, with amounts of 6 to 8 inches observed in the northeast Georgia mountains.

Began near Carey (33.5824, -83.2554).

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 970151. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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