Tornadoes · United States · Georgia · 2004

F0 tornado, Register to Metter, Georgia, September 6, 2004

From Register to Metter, this F0 tornado ran 5.0 miles across Bulloch and Candler counties on September 6, 2004, touching down at 4:20 AM EDT and reaching 60 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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 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.

The record

Rating
F0
Date
September 6, 2004
Touchdown
4:20 AM EDT (08:20 UTC)
Path length
5.0 miles (8.0 km)
Path width
60 yards (55 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Counties
Bulloch and Candler counties
Touchdown point
32.320, -81.880
Lift-off point
32.330, -82.000
Record number
1662

What the Weather Service recorded

Hurricane Frances made land fall over the Florida Panhandle and continued to track in a generally northward direction into Georgia, before turning more to the northeast. This track placed the Charleston County Warning Area in the favorable right side of the remnants of Frances which produced numerous tornadoes and areas of straight line wind damage over southeast Georgia and south coastal South Carolina. Several Georgia counties also experienced flash flooding as there were isolated rainfall amounts of 5 to 8 inches over a 24 to 36 hour period. This was on top of already saturated ground from heavy rains during the month of August. The South Carolina counties experienced more nuisance type flooding as the rainfall amounts were not as high as what occurred in southeast Georgia.

A weak tornado knocked down trees in Bulloch county before moving into Candler county.

A weak tornado moved from Bulloch county into Candler county. The storm knocked down trees along its path.

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

The warnings

7 minutes of warning. NWS CHS issued a tornado warning for this county at 08:13 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 08:45 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
08:13 UTC08:45 UTCTornado WarningCHS

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, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:09 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.

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), 00:00Z

8.3 hours before the tornado, 193 km from the path. September 6, 2004.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Charleston AFB, SC at 00:00Z on 2004-09-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1206 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 493 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Charleston AFB, SC at 00:00Z on 2004-09-06The 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 141 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 13 knots.193958Sfc1 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
1206 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
963 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
493 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
141 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
202 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), 12:00Z

3.7 hours after it, 193 km from the path. September 6, 2004.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Charleston AFB, SC at 12:00Z on 2004-09-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1111 joules per kilogram, CIN -15, lifted condensation level 595 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, Charleston AFB, SC at 12:00Z on 2004-09-06The 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 132 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 26 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
1111 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-15 J/kg
Surface CAPE
495 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
595 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
132 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
224 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.5
Supercell composite
4.4
0-3 km lapse rate
5.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Statesboro/Bulloch Co (TBR), 26 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
06:20 UTC78.878.870° 8 kt171010.8
07:00 UTC78.878.880° 9 kt141010.8
07:20 UTC78.878.860° 9 kt141010.5
07:40 UTC777770° 12 kt151010.2
08:00 UTC78.878.870° 11 kt161010.2
08:20 UTC78.878.870° 9 kt171010.2
08:40 UTC78.878.870° 11 kt181009.8
09:00 UTC7777100° 10 kt161010.2
09:20 UTC777770° 11 kt161009.8
09:40 UTC777770° 10 kt151009.8
10:00 UTC777780° 9 kt141010.5

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

The radar

The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 08:21 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2004 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of September 6, 2004

13 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 62:15 AM EDTF0Saint Johns, FL1.075$60,000
September 63:30 AM EDTF0Bryan, GA0.530
September 69:00 AM EDTF1Liberty, GA8.575
September 610:32 AM EDTF0Polk, FL0.330
September 610:02 AM CDTF1Chatham, GA to SC6.0300
September 61:05 PM EDTF0Colleton, SC0.540
September 62:40 PM EDTF1Beaufort, SC1.075
September 62:55 PM EDTF1Jasper, SC2.01001
September 64:40 PM EDTF0Palm Beach, FL0.210
September 66:45 PM EDTF1Clay, FL0.575
September 67:10 PM EDTF0Saint Johns, FL1.075$10,000
September 67:20 PM EDTF0Saint Johns, FL1.075$20,000
September 610:00 PM EDTF0Pasco, FL0.230

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.