Tornadoes · United States · Georgia · 2000

F2 tornado, Crosland to Omega, Georgia, February 14, 2000

From Crosland to Omega, this F2 tornado ran 6.0 miles across Tift and Colquitt counties on February 14, 2000, touching down at 1:39 AM EST and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed 1 person, and did $2.5 million 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 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.

The record

Rating
F2
Date
February 14, 2000
Touchdown
1:39 AM EST (06:39 UTC)
Path length
6.0 miles (9.7 km)
Path width
200 yards (183 m)
Deaths
1
Injuries
0
Property damage
$2.5 million
Counties
Tift and Colquitt counties
Touchdown point
31.320, -83.630
Lift-off point
31.350, -83.580
Record number
637

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong tornado tore through extreme northeast Colquitt County near Crosland toppling trees and power lines before it moved into extreme southwest Tift County. Several mobile homes were damaged. One woman was killed in a mobile home just northeast of Crosland when a large tree and another mobile home were blown against her home. Colquitt County was declared a federal disaster area. Reported by a amateur radio operator and the Colquitt County EMA.

A strong tornado crossed U.S. Highway 319 from extreme northeast Colquitt County into extreme southwest Tift County, just south of Omega. Twelve mobile homes and eight pre-fabricated homes were destroyed. Numerous frame homes were damaged, including some moved off their block foundations. Ten persons were injured. Numerous trees and power lines were down. Just northeast of Omega, a school bus was blown into a nearby home. Tift County was declared a federal disaster area. Reported by the Tift County EMA.

The deaths

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

AgeSexWhereKind
43FMobile/Trailer HomeDirect

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

The warnings

40 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 05:59 UTC, 40 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:45 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
05:01 UTC05:45 UTCTornado WarningTAE
05:59 UTC06:45 UTCTornado WarningTAE
06:32 UTC07:15 UTCTornado WarningTAE
07:04 UTC07:30 UTCTornado WarningTAE

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:04 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 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.

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 00:00Z

6.7 hours before the tornado, 123 km from the path. February 14, 2000.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2000-02-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -66532, lifted condensation level 843 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2000-02-14The 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 195 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 45 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-66532 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
843 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
195 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
235 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3
0-3 km lapse rate
4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 12:00Z

5.3 hours after it, 123 km from the path. February 14, 2000.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2000-02-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1255 joules per kilogram, CIN -7, lifted condensation level 648 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, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2000-02-14The 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 62 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 46 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
1255 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1325 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
648 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
62 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
61 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.6
Supercell composite
2.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2000 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of February 14, 2000

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 141:21 AM ESTF1Colquitt, GA2.050$70,000
February 142:30 AM ESTF0Cook, GA0.00
February 145:10 AM ESTF0Aiken, SC0.250
February 146:00 AM ESTF0Lenoir, NC0.10
February 146:07 AM ESTF0Martin, NC0.10
February 143:40 PM MSTF0Power, ID9.0100$380,000
February 143:47 PM MSTF1Bingham, ID14.0300$2.2 million
February 143:55 PM MSTF0Bannock, ID5.050$110,000
February 144:15 PM MSTF1Bingham, ID12.0200$500,000
February 144:19 PM MSTF1Bingham, ID9.02001$280,000

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.