Tornadoes · United States · Georgia

1975 tornadoes in Georgia

21 tornadoes touched down in Georgia in 1975, 19 percent below the average of the record for the state. They killed 5 people and injured 233.

1974 1976 The whole country in 1975

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Every tornado in Georgia in 1975

January 12 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 125:15 PM ESTF2Toombs2.01001$5,000 to $50,000

January 25 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 2511:00 AM ESTF1Berrien10.450$5,000 to $50,000

February 18 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 184:08 PM ESTF3Peach9.7300250$5 million to $50 million

February 23 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 237:10 PM EDTF1Douglas2.0502$50,000 to $500,000
February 237:30 PM EDTF1Cobb1.030$5,000 to $50,000

March 7 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 75:00 PM EDTF1Forsyth0.333$5,000 to $50,000
March 75:30 PM EDTF1Cobb1.050$50,000 to $500,000

March 13 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 137:00 PM EDTF1Fulton1.0100$50,000 to $500,000
March 138:00 PM EDTF1Bartow1.0100$5,000 to $50,000
March 139:30 PM EDTF1Forsyth9.61002$50,000 to $500,000
March 1310:00 PM EDTF1Oconee19.2200$50,000 to $500,000
March 131:07 AM EDTF2Dooly8.62005$50,000 to $500,000

March 14 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 142:35 AM EDTF2Washington6.01007$50,000 to $500,000

March 24 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 247:28 AM EDTF3Fulton14.85003152$50 million to $500 million
March 248:30 AM EDTF1Floyd36.11503$50,000 to $500,000

April 14 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 148:45 PM EDTF1Glynn0.527$5,000 to $50,000

April 27 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 275:45 PM EDTF1Bulloch0.530$50,000 to $500,000

May 3 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 34:00 PM EDTF1Wheeler1.02001$50,000 to $500,000
May 35:25 PM EDTF2Effingham5.4502$50,000 to $500,000

June 9 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 912:16 PM EDTF1Glynn0.110$500 to $5,000

September 23 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 235:20 PM EDTF1Chatham2.5608$5,000 to $50,000

Crossed into Georgia

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Georgia. They are counted under the state they began in.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 1210:20 AM CSTF2Bay, FL to GA168.5100133$500,000 to $5 million

Nearby

Every tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in GeorgiaThe live radar over Georgia

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.