F0 tornado, Sugar Creek, Georgia, April 22, 1997

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

F0

Date

April 22, 1997

Touchdown

6:18 PM EDT (22:18 UTC)

Path length

0.4 miles (0.6 km)

Path width

40 yards (37 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

3

Property damage

$100,000

County

Murray County

Touchdown point

34.880, -84.370

Lift-off point

34.880, -84.370

Record number

659

Two different tornadoes were reported within Murray County, within a short distance of each other although it is not believed they are the same one. The first touched down on the west side of Maple Grove Church Road. A few tree tops were broken on the outskirts of a yard. Moving into the yard, a chicken coop was completely destroyed, a barn had a tin roof badly damaged, with pieces of the tin ripped off and blown eastward about 30-40 yards against trees. Also along this line, was a garage that was totally removed from its foundation and destroyed. The south side of the yard had three trees that were blown down pointing west. A pine tree was lifted from elsewhere and dropped into the yard along side an apple and oak tree. A few shingles were lifted from the south side of the house and blown into the front yard and across Maple Grove Church.On the east side of Maple Grove Church Road, at the intersection of Valley Drive, a house had a few pieces of vinyl peeled from the front wall above the garage. Twenty yards away, a mobile home was pushed from its foundation. Fifty yards up the hill a mailbox was blown down, and the underpinnings were torn from a mobile home. Another 30 yards west, another mobile home was rolled down a hill and destroyed. Eyewitnesses reported that this occurred at approximately 615 pm EDT. One person was thrown approximately 20-30 yards to the northeast, while up to five others were inside the mobile home as it bounced and rolled down the hill. At least one injury (broken arm, cuts and bruises) was reported at this site. A trap was ripped off of the frame, leaving it exposed however all of the installed plumbing was intact.Along this path, there were indications that the tornado lifted and touched down several times. The tornado moved across an open field beyond the trailer where it finally lifted and moved over a wooded area.A short distance away a second tornado touched down along Georgia Highway 282. Most of the damage from this short-lived portion was to a wooded area. Numerous Pine trees were uprooted and snapped. At least one home suffered structural damage from fallen trees. Although no injuries were reported here, officials were worried about an infant who was hooked up to a heart monitor.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:19 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1997 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

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