Tornadoes · United States · Georgia · 1984

F1 tornado, Lee County, Georgia, May 3, 1984

This F1 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Lee County on May 3, 1984, touching down at 11:30 AM EDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 to $500,000 of property damage.

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 mphthis tornado

    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.

The record

Rating
F1
Date
May 3, 1984
Touchdown
11:30 AM EDT (15:30 UTC)
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000 to $500,000
County
Lee County
Touchdown point
32.670, -84.220
Record number
311

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Athens Municipal, GA (KAHN), 12:00Z

3.5 hours before the tornado, 166 km from the path. May 3, 1984.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Athens Municipal, GA at 12:00Z on 1984-05-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 344 joules per kilogram, CIN -31, lifted condensation level 532 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Athens Municipal, GA at 12:00Z on 1984-05-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 200 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 49 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
344 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-31 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
532 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
200 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
254 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.6
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Athens Municipal, GA (KAHN), 00:00Z

8.5 hours after it, 166 km from the path. May 4, 1984.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Athens Municipal, GA at 00:00Z on 1984-05-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 20 joules per kilogram, CIN -365, lifted condensation level 1224 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Athens Municipal, GA at 00:00Z on 1984-05-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 145 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 76 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
20 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-365 J/kg
Surface CAPE
105 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1224 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
76 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
145 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
194 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.8
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Macon/Lewis Wilson (MCN), 53 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
14:00 UTC7165190° 13 kt1007.1DZ
14:31 UTC190° 13 kt1007.8TSRA DZ
15:00 UTC7165170° 8 kt1007.8-TSRA DZ
15:08 UTC140° 13 kt1006.4TSRA DZ
15:32 UTC150° 18 kt331003-SHRA DZ
16:00 UTC7166150° 18 kt331002-RA
16:21 UTC160° 16 kt281003TSRA
17:00 UTC7165170° 12 kt231004.1-SHRA
17:19 UTC210° 14 kt241004.1-SHRA FG

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1984 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 3, 1984

37 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 31:30 AM CDTF1Limestone, AL3.5100$5,000 to $50,000
May 37:00 AM CDTF3Montgomery, AL7.0800537$500,000 to $5 million
May 38:10 AM CDTF1Macon, AL7.580$5,000 to $50,000
May 39:10 AM CDTF1Houston, AL0.5400$5,000 to $50,000
May 311:10 AM EDTF1Terrell, GA4.0801$50,000 to $500,000
May 311:48 AM CDTF0Sumter, AL0.130$50 to $500
May 31:15 PM EDTF1Telfair, GA1.050$50,000 to $500,000
May 31:30 PM EDTF1Wheeler, GA1.050$50,000 to $500,000
May 312:30 PM CDTF1Shelby, AL1.060$500 to $5,000
May 312:35 PM CDTF2Talladega, AL12.0200$50,000 to $500,000
May 312:40 PM CDTF2Dallas, AL7.550$500,000 to $5 million
May 312:49 PM CDTF0Dale, AL0.110
May 31:50 PM EDTF1Montgomery, GA1.050$50,000 to $500,000
May 312:56 PM CDTF2Dale, AL5.5200$5,000 to $50,000
May 32:00 PM EDTF1Toombs, GA3.01003$500,000 to $5 million
May 31:15 PM CDTF2Clay, AL13.03002$50,000 to $500,000
May 31:18 PM CDTF2Cleburne, AL8.4400$50,000 to $500,000
May 31:22 PM CDTF1Cleburne, AL1.0100$5,000 to $50,000
May 32:30 PM EDTF1Candler, GA1.040$50,000 to $500,000
May 32:30 PM EDTF1Haralson, GA2.060$50,000 to $500,000
May 31:35 PM CDTF1Randolph, AL5.080$5,000 to $50,000
May 31:40 PM CDTF2Cleburne, AL5.0400$50,000 to $500,000
May 33:00 PM EDTF2Bulloch, GA20.020030$500,000 to $5 million
May 32:00 PM CDTF2Macon, AL3.5100$50,000 to $500,000
May 33:30 PM EDTF1Tattnall, GA2.0100$50,000 to $500,000
May 33:30 PM EDTF1Fulton, GA0.550$50,000 to $500,000
May 32:30 PM CDTF2Lee, AL0.41001$50,000 to $500,000
May 34:00 PM EDTF1Effingham, GA5.0100$50,000 to $500,000
May 34:45 PM EDTF1Greenwood, SC2.0100$5,000 to $50,000
May 35:00 PM EDTF1Jasper, SC1.530$500 to $5,000
May 35:00 PM EDTF1Beaufort, SC2.050$5,000 to $50,000
May 34:25 PM CDTF1Mecklenburg, SC to NC20.0100$50,000 to $500,000
May 36:30 PM MDTF0Big Horn, WY0.510$500 to $5,000
May 37:35 PM CDTF0West Baton Rouge Parish, LA0.110
May 39:50 PM EDTF0Marion, GA0.530$500 to $5,000
May 311:45 PM EDTF1Floyd, GA11.080$5,000 to $50,000
May 311:30 PM CDTF1Neshoba, MS0.550$50,000 to $500,000

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.