F0 tornado, Lorane to Bolingbroke, Georgia, November 10, 2002

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

   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 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

F0

Date

November 10, 2002

Touchdown

5:21 PM EST (22:21 UTC)

Path length

0.8 miles (1.3 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$500,000

Counties

Bibb and Monroe counties

Touchdown point

32.930, -83.730

Lift-off point

32.920, -83.750

Record number

401

A National Weather Service disaster survey team from the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City, Georgia, along with Bibb county emergency management officials confirmed that a short-lived F0 tornado touched down in extreme northern Bibb county in the Cross Creek and Sleepy Creek subdivisions which straddle the Bibb-Monroe county line. The tornado was estimated to have a path length of 1/2 to 3/4 mile and a path width of 1/4 mile or less. Numerous trees, mostly pines, were either broken off or uprooted. Some of the trees landed on homes and some shingles were also peeled off by the wind. However, damage to homes was minor. Most of the damage occurred in the Wesleyan Road, Riverside Road, and Bass Road areas. A couple of roads were blocked by downed trees.

The National Weather Service disaster survey team continued its survey into extreme southern Monroe county and classified the damage here as F0 tornado damage as well. The same tornado that originated in extreme northern Bibb county moved east-northeast into extreme southern Monroe county, continuing to do damage in the Sleepy Creek and Cross Creek Subdivisions. The damage was confined mainly to numerous downed pine trees, a few on homes, and a few incidents of shingles blown off roofs. At least eight homes and four vehicles were damaged by downed trees. One four foot diameter tree was blown right through the bedroom of one home and at least two dozen trees were tossed about like twiggs in another part of the subdivision. Two roads were blocked by downed trees as well.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

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, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:23 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.

Macon/Lewis Wilson (MCN), 27 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2002 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

63 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 64 of them

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.