F3 tornado, Cairo to Camilla, Georgia, February 13, 2000

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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

F3

Date

February 13, 2000

Touchdown

12:49 AM EST (05:49 UTC)

Path length

15.0 miles (24.1 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

7

Injuries

15

Property damage

$5.0 million

Counties

Grady, Mitchell and Thomas counties

Touchdown point

31.020, -84.200

Lift-off point

31.070, -84.020

Record number

635

A strong tornado tore through northern Grady County, then crossed into extreme northwest Thomas County. Fifteen homes were destroyed and numerous damaged. Fifteen persons were injured, mostly from flying debris. Six fatalities were confirmed by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency: four deaths in mobile homes and two in a woodframe home. Scores of pecan trees were uprooted, pine trees snapped and power lines toppled. Farmers suffered major losses to irrigation equipment, trailers and shelters. Eight chicken houses were flattened, killing a half million chickens. Grady County was declared a federal disaster area. Reported by the Grady County EMA.

A strong tornado moved from the northeast corner of Grady County into extreme northwest Thomas County near Meigs. A few homes were damaged with numerous downed trees and power lines. Reported by the Thomas County EMA.

A strong tornado tracked northeast from extreme northwest Thomas County into extreme southeastMitchell County. Numerous homes were damaged as well as downed trees and power lines. One man died from injuries sustained when the tornado destroyed his mobile home and neighboring woodframe home two miles north of Meigs. Reported by the Mitchell County EMA.

The deaths

7 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

20 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 05:29 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:15 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 00:53 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 Tallahassee radar (KTLH), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:46 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 2000 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

10 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.