Tornadoes · United States · Georgia

1980 tornadoes in Georgia

32 tornadoes touched down in Georgia in 1980, 23 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1979 1981 The whole country in 1980

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.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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 1980

March 17 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 17	3:50 PM EST	F1	Randolph	0.2	50			$5,000 to $50,000
March 17	7:45 PM EST	F1	Johnson	2.0	83			$5,000 to $50,000

March 21 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
March 21	1:45 AM EST	F1	Upson	2.0	67		$5,000 to $50,000
March 21	2:00 AM EST	F1	Macon	22.5	100	2	$500,000 to $5 million
March 21	2:45 AM EST	F1	Houston	22.2	67		$50,000 to $500,000
March 21	3:00 AM EST	F1	Wilkinson	0.2	67	1	$5,000 to $50,000

April 4 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 4	7:00 AM EST	F1	Baker	0.1	20	$500 to $5,000
April 4	9:20 AM EST	F1	Coffee	0.2	50	$500,000 to $5 million
April 4	11:00 AM EST	F1	Berrien	0.2	20	$500 to $5,000

April 8 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
April 8	1:50 PM EST	F0	Clarke	0.1	10		$500 to $5,000
April 8	6:20 PM EST	F1	Effingham	4.2	30		$50,000 to $500,000
April 8	8:50 PM EST	F1	Paulding	4.3	30	1	$5,000 to $50,000

April 13 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 13	4:50 PM EST	F1	Harris	50.7	100		4	$500,000 to $5 million
April 13	5:45 PM EST	F1	Oglethorpe	26.9	100		1	$5,000 to $50,000

April 26 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 26	3:30 PM EST	F0	Wayne	0.1	20			$5,000 to $50,000
April 26	4:00 PM EST	F1	Liberty	4.1	83			$5,000 to $50,000

April 27 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 27	3:40 AM EDT	F1	Hall	4.5	100		1	$50,000 to $500,000
April 27	5:30 AM EDT	F1	Thomas	3.6	73			$500 to $5,000

May 17 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 17	2:45 PM EDT	F1	Pike	6.5	50	$5,000 to $50,000
May 17	3:00 PM EDT	F1	Lamar	10.8	100	$500 to $5,000
May 17	8:10 PM EDT	F1	Newton	0.2	50	$5,000 to $50,000
May 17	9:20 PM EDT	F1	Oconee	0.1	27	$500 to $5,000

May 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 20	10:55 AM EDT	F1	Tift	2.0	77			$500 to $5,000

May 23 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 23	5:00 PM EDT	F1	Washington	1.0	27			$500 to $5,000
May 23	9:00 PM EDT	F2	Chatham	1.0	100		2	$50,000 to $500,000

May 25 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 25	8:00 AM EDT	F0	Meriwether	0.2	27
May 25	8:30 AM EDT	F0	Talbot	0.2	27
May 25	1:30 PM EDT	F1	Brooks	0.5	10	$500 to $5,000

June 16 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 16	9:05 PM EDT	F1	Hall	0.1	27			$50 to $500

June 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 24	8:30 PM EDT	F1	Telfair	0.5	27

July 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 24	8:30 PM EDT	F1	Elbert	0.1	20			$500 to $5,000

August 21 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 21	5:30 PM EDT	F1	Bryan	0.1	27			$5,000 to $50,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Georgia since 1950 Warnings in force in Georgia The 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.