F2 tornado, Jake to Bremen, Georgia, May 7, 1999

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 mphthis tornado

   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

F2

Date

May 7, 1999

Touchdown

4:22 PM EDT (20:22 UTC)

Path length

10.0 miles (16.1 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

3

Property damage

$600,000

Counties

Carroll and Haralson counties

Touchdown point

33.650, -85.220

Lift-off point

33.750, -85.100

Record number

937

Sight survey by NWS personnel and newspaper accounts determined that the tornado touched down in Carroll county near Five Points Road and Mt Zion Road. The storm path was to the northeast across Interstate 20 and then into Haralson county. All along the path there was structural damage to several homes, businesses, barns and outbuildings. Many hundreds of trees were snapped or uprooted, which caused much of the damage. Several of the trees were very large hardwoods and pines. There was also extensive damage to power and telephone lines.

The tornado continued northeast from Carroll county and crossed into Haralson county southwest of Bremen. There was heavy damage to a mobile home dealership in Bremen, where around 35 mobile homes were damaged or destroyed. Debris was tossed across the highway. The tornado continued northeast and did damage at the Maple Creek golf course before lifting. Newspaper accouints said three people in Haralson county were taken to the hospital with fractures.

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

17 minutes of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:05 UTC, 17 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:35 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 19:55 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 1999 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

3 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.