F1 tornado, Head River, Georgia, November 24, 2001

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

November 24, 2001

Touchdown

4:06 PM EST (21:06 UTC)

Path length

1.5 miles (2.4 km)

Path width

528 yards (483 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$70,000

County

Dade County

Touchdown point

34.650, -85.500

Lift-off point

34.670, -85.520

Record number

461

A survey conducted by the Dade county Emergency Manager and officials from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported that a strong F0 to weak F1 tornado touched down just northwest of Head River in the extreme southern part of the county. The tornado developed from a thunderstorm that initially developed in northeast Alabama. It appeared that several brief touchdowns occurred in a path approximately 1.5 miles long with a width of 1/4 to 1/2 mile. The tornado dissipated just before reaching the Walker county border. Most of the damage was confined to the area between Old State Road 157, Yankee Road, and Brook Road. A large farm in this area sustained most of the damage. One concrete block garage and one barn were completely destroyed. Five to six other buildings were also damaged. The debris from the damaged buildings was found as far as 1/2 mile away from its origin. Numerous trees and power lines were also blown down in the same area. Initial damage estimates were placed at $75,000. There were no injuries or fatalities reported with this incident.

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

12 minutes of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:54 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:45 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 20:38 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.

Rome/Russell(Ramos) (RMG), 47 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 60 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:06 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 2001 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

57 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.