Georgia, 2016

Tornadoes in Georgia, April 7, 2016

April 7, 2016 · NWS TAE · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

Although most of the severe weather during the late night to early morning hours of April 6-7 stayed north of the tri-state area, an isolated storm did produce an EF2 tornado across Calhoun county with some injuries reported.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
5
Property damage
$150,000
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
3

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS TAE wrote it up.

Although most of the severe weather during the late night to early morning hours of April 6-7 stayed north of the tri-state area, an isolated storm did produce an EF2 tornado across Calhoun county with some injuries reported.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Tallahassee, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 7, 12:37 AM EST, 1 hour 3 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 7, 12:37 AM EST, 1 hour 3 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
137 AM EDT THU APR 7 2016

.Aviation...
[Through 06Z Friday]... MVFR ceilings will continue through
sunrise then will gradually clear as the front moves through. Best
chance of rain for next few hours will be at DHN and ABY.

&&

.Prev Discussion [754 PM EDT]...

.Near Term [Through Tonight]...

At 18 UTC the surface analysis showed a cold front approaching the
Mississippi River. Scattered showers and storms were occurring
ahead of this boundary across eastern Arkansas. Limited
development was noted further south into northern Louisiana.
Locally, easterly flow has shifted to southerly with surface
dewpoints beginning to climb through the mid 50s inland and near
60 at the coast. Expect a gradual moistening trend to continue
throughout the evening ahead of the cold front.

Main forecast concern overnight as the cold front nears the region
is shower and thunderstorm development. Most of the forcing with
the system is further north across the Tennessee River Valley.
Instability is also lacking, which suggests that if storms were to
develop, they'd likely occur near the time the cold front
approaches the region. The kinematics actually look pretty good,
with 0-6km shear increasing to near 60kt after 00z. The best
overlap of forcing, shear, and instability is located off to the
north, and as a result, only a tiny portion of our area is
included in a marginal risk area. Given the appearance of the
southern end of the system at this time and the limited
development suggested by our local WRFs, will keep rain chances on
the lower side and not include mention of severe storms at this
time.

The cold front should transit the region between 03z and 09z
tonight and clear to the east of the region by sunrise.
Overnight temperatures will be mild, generally in the mid to upper
50s.

.Short Term [Thursday Through Friday Night]...

The cold front is expected to have cleared the area by Thursday
morning with high pressure and a drier and cooler airmass moving
in behind it. Mostly clear to partly cloudy skies are expected
to dominate with overnight low dipping into the mid to upper 40s
by Friday night. Afternoon high temperatures are expected to be
generally in the mid 70s to near 80.

.Long Term [Saturday Through Wednesday]...

An upper level trough will persist across the northeast states
this weekend with dry, northwest flow aloft over the local area.
Temperatures are expected to be below average this weekend, with
highs mainly near 70 and lows in the 40s. Temperatures will warm
to around average values next week as the surface ridge moves east
into the Atlantic Ocean. There is some disagreement on the
timing of when the next system will arrive, but it could be around
Tuesday or Wednesday.

.Marine...

Winds will become westerly overnight as a cold front passes
through with moderate west to northwest winds continuing through
the remainder of the week.

.Fire Weather...

After a quick round of showers and thunderstorms tonight...much
drier air will return to the forecast area on Thursday. The dry
air will remain in place through the weekend. Fuels remain
fairly wet. By the time the RH gets low enough to meet that
portion of red flag criteria on Sunday, fuels may be dry enough to
cause us to look at wind speeds. At this point, it looks as if
wind speeds will be low enough to preclude reaching red flag
criteria in spite of fuels.

.Hydrology...

River flooding continues across the lower portion of the various
basins this afternoon. Only the far southern portion of the
Apalachicola River and the Suwannee River are still rising.

In the ACF system, releases have dropped considerably from Walter
F George, that inflows into Lake Seminole from the Chattahoochee
side should be quite low in the next 36 hours. The Flint still has
a while before the peak flow reaches Lake Seminole, given that
Albany is just now cresting below 21 feet. Thus, expect to see
some decrease in the releases from Woodruff over the next 48
hours. This will have the Apalachicola River near Blountstown
slowly falling over the next couple of days, with more significant
drops by the weekend.

The Withlacoochee River has crested through US-84, with Pinetta
expected to crest just above moderate stage on Thursday. As a
result, focus for flooding will shift to the Suwannee late this
weekend and into next week. Anticipated peak flows at Ellaville
look to be in the 30kcfs to 35kcfs range, which suggest minor
flooding is likely at the Middle Suwannee points from Ellaville
through Luraville by early next week.

Any rainfall with tonight's system will be to isolated to have an
impact on area rivers. The next potential for significant rainfall
will be next week in the Wed-Fri timeframe.

&&

.Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs...

Tallahassee   80  55  77  48  72 /   0   0   0   0   0
Panama City   73  61  74  54  69 /   0   0   0   0   0
Dothan        76  53  73  47  69 /   0   0   0   0   0
Albany        76  53  73  46  69 /   0   0   0   0   0
Valdosta      77  53  76  47  70 /   0   0   0   0   0
Cross City    79  56  80  49  73 /  10   0   0   0   0
Apalachicola  76  61  76  53  70 /   0   0   0   0   0

&&

.TAE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
FL...NONE.
GA...NONE.
AL...NONE.
GM...NONE.
&&

NEAR TERM...DVD
SHORT TERM...GODSEY
LONG TERM...DVD
AVIATION...WESTON
MARINE...DVD/FDC
FIRE WEATHER...DVD
HYDROLOGY...WOOL

The radar

The Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 57 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 06:41 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Randolph

When
April 7, 1:40 AM EST to 1:41 AM EST
Where
Randolph County, 3.31 mi S of Coleman to 3.64 mi SSE of Coleman
Rating
EF0
Path length
0.9 mi
Path width
250 yd
Continued into
Clay, Ga (TAE)
Reported by
NWS Storm Survey
Coordinates
31.622, -84.889

This tornado initially touched down in extreme southern Randolph county before moving into Clay county and eventually Calhoun county. Damage in Randolph county was limited to trees. The Randolph county portion of this track was rated EF0.

Tornado, Clay

When
April 7, 1:41 AM EST to 1:45 AM EST
Where
Clay County, 2.2 mi NNE of Bellville to 1.37 mi ENE of Suttons Corner
Rating
EF1
Path length
3.45 mi
Path width
250 yd
Continued into
Calhoun, Ga (TAE)
Reported by
NWS Storm Survey
Coordinates
31.619, -84.875

This tornado initially touched down in extreme southern Randolph county before moving into Clay county and eventually Calhoun county. Damage in Clay county was limited to snapped trees. The Clay county portion of this track was rated EF1.

Tornado, Calhoun

When
April 7, 1:45 AM EST to 2:05 AM EST
Where
Calhoun County, 2.83 mi W of Moye to 2.05 mi ENE of Dickey
Rating
EF2
Path length
11.45 mi
Path width
250 yd
Injuries
5 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage
$150,000
Reported by
NWS Storm Survey
Coordinates
31.606, -84.818

The combination of dual-polarization radar data and the damage survey show that the tornado initially touched down very close to the Clay/Randolph County line west of US Highway 27. The tornado then continued on a continuous path for nearly 16 miles across much of northwestern Calhoun County. Initial damage northwest of Edison, GA in northwestern Calhoun County was largely limited to downed or snapped trees. As the tornado neared Georgia Highway 216, there was an area of more concentrated damage along Magnolia Road. Two single wide mobile homes were destroyed at this location along with numerous snapped pine trees. Damage in this area was consistent with EF-1 damage or a maximum wind of around 100-105 mph. For the following four miles of the track, damage was once again limited to mostly downed or snapped trees. More significant damage occurred east of the Ichawaynochaway Creek north of Georgia Highway 37 near Dickey, GA. On Country Club Road, a single family residence was damaged, with a portion of the exterior brick wall collapsed, large sections of the roof removed, and debris blown 100-200 yards from the structure. Large trees near the residence were uprooted or snapped. Across the road, a double wide mobile home had some sections of walls and roof removed, and it was blown off its foundation by a couple feet. Additional large, healthy trees were snapped and uprooted at that location. Damage in this area was consistent with high end EF-1 to low end EF-2 damage, with a maximum wind of 110-120 mph. Even more significant damage occurred further east along the Dickey Bypass. Numerous trees in this area were snapped and uprooted. Along the south side of the road, a double-wide mobile home was completely obliterated with debris blown across the road about 50 yards or more into a tree line. This mobile home was strapped and anchored to the ground in several locations, with the anchors sticking into the ground approximately a foot. The mobile home frame separated completely and wrapped around a nearby tree. Numerous hardwood trees near the home were snapped. Damage at this location was the most intense along the track of this tornado and was consistent with strong EF-2 damage, with a maximum wind of 125 to 130 mph. Analysis of the damage patterns suggests that this mobile home may have been hit by a subvortex in the tornado, as debris was blown across the path of the tornado to the north. Most of the debris along the rest of the path tended to be blown in a more easterly direction. Just to the east of that residence, another house was damaged, with a small portion of the roof removed. The residents stated that the roof had separated from the walls, but set down again in a slightly different location. Almost all the pine trees near this house were snapped. The tree damage continued to the east for about another mile, with a medium sized shed or outbuilding also destroyed near the end of the tornado path. Total damage cost was estimated.

What these are

Tornado
A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Georgia in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Georgia, 2016Warnings in Georgia, April 2016

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 619392, 619394, 619395.