F1 tornado, Columbus, Georgia, March 13, 1997

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.

Rating

F1

Date

March 13, 1997

Touchdown

5:12 PM EST (22:12 UTC)

Path length

9.3 miles (15.0 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$750,000

County

Muscogee County

Touchdown point

32.470, -84.950

Lift-off point

32.580, -84.850

Record number

65

An F1 tornado moved diagonally across the city of Columbus and Muscogee County before ending about one mile into Harris County. The total tornado track was about 10 and a quarter miles long, one mile in Harris County and the rest in Muscogee County.The tornado began at 5:12 pm EST on the southside of Columbus first touching down on Martin Luther King Boulevard where a business was partially de-roofed. The tornado moved northeastward through primarily residential sections such as Wynnton Grove, Averett Woods and Hilton Heights. Damage in these areas was primarily to trees and power lines.The tornado crossed Interstate 185 in the vicinity of Columbus College. Hardaway High School suffered roof damage to the sym as well as damage to the athletic field and equipment. A couple of portable classrooms at Columbus College were destroyed, one was thrown across I-185.The tornado continued northeast across the Peachtree Mall and the Columbus airport terminal. Relatively minor damage was done in these areas. The observation equipment at the Columbus airport recorded a wind gust to 58 knots (67 mph) at 5:23 pm. Damage increased as the tornado moved into the residential areas of Wayne Terrace, Windsor Park, and Lyn Hills located north of the airport. Tornado intensity was stronger in this area though damage continued to be primarily to trees with many falling on house. A number of houses sustained roof damage but few actually lost portions of their roofs.Continuing northeast, the tornado moved through the North Oaks, Charter Oaks, and Bridlewood residential areas with only minor damage to trees and house tops - generally shingles blown off. The tornado crossed J. R. Allen Parkway just to the south-southwest of Shaw High School. Additional damage in the form of downed trees occurred on Pierce Chapel Road at the Muscogee/Harris county line. Damage to trees continued approximately one mile into Harris County before the tornado dissipated.There was only one injury - a broken arm - attributed to the tornado. EMA reported 40 houses damaged, three uninhabitable. Immediately following the storm, 20,000 electric customers were without power.

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

18 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:54 UTC, 18 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:40 UTC.

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 05:59 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.

Columbus Metro Airport (CSG), 4 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 83 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:14 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

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

1 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.