Tornadoes · United States · Georgia · 2005

F0 tornado, Brinson, Georgia, August 29, 2005

This F0 tornado ran 3.0 miles across Decatur County on August 29, 2005, touching down at 6:26 PM EDT and reaching 50 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
August 29, 2005
Touchdown
6:26 PM EDT (22:26 UTC)
Path length
3.0 miles (4.8 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Decatur County
Touchdown point
30.950, -84.730
Lift-off point
31.000, -84.730
Record number
378

What the Weather Service recorded

A small tornado briefly touched down just south of Brinson. It moved north and crossed U.S. Highway 84 near Spring Creek Road. No damage was reported by the public.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:31 UTC23:00 UTCTornado WarningTAE
23:39 UTC00:01 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:53 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 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), 12:00Z

10.4 hours before the tornado, 76 km from the path. August 29, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2005-08-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 917 joules per kilogram, CIN -44, lifted condensation level 730 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2005-08-29The 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 180 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 32 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
917 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-44 J/kg
Surface CAPE
769 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
730 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
180 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
183 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.6
Supercell composite
4.5
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

1.6 hours after it, 76 km from the path. August 30, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2005-08-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1650 joules per kilogram, CIN -3, lifted condensation level 554 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2005-08-30The 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 278 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 44 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
1650 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1337 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
554 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
278 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
291 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.9
Supercell composite
9.9
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Bainbridge/Decatur County Indus (BGE), 9 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:40 UTC80.678.8160° 12 kt191005.8VCTS
21:00 UTC80.678.8140° 11 kt161005.8VCTS
21:20 UTC80.678.8150° 10 kt171005.8TS
21:40 UTC82.478.8150° 12 kt1005.8VCTS
22:00 UTC82.478.8150° 13 kt181005.4VCTS
22:20 UTC82.478.8160° 14 kt171005.8TS
22:40 UTC80.678.8160° 13 kt181005.8TS
23:00 UTC80.677160° 13 kt201005.8TS
23:40 UTC80.677160° 11 kt191005.4VCTS
00:00 UTC7775.2180° 9 kt161005.4+RA
00:20 UTC78.877160° 11 kt1005.4

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

The radar

The Tallahassee radar (KTLH), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:27 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:26 UTCTORNADOBrinsonDecatur, GACROSSED HWY 84 NEAR SPRING CREEK ROAD. PHOTO TAKEN WITH CELL PHONE. NO INDICATIONS OF DAMAGE.
22:31 UTCTORNADO2 W HanoverDecatur, GAMULTIPLE REPORTS

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2005 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 29, 2005

39 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 297:05 AM CDTF0Santa Rosa, FL3.030$10,000
August 297:07 AM CDTF0Escambia, FL1.030$10,000
August 297:30 AM CDTF0Escambia, AL2.030$10,000
August 298:42 AM CDTF0Okaloosa, FL1.030$10,000
August 298:47 AM CDTF0Santa Rosa, FL1.030$10,000
August 2911:25 AM CDTF1Forrest, MS0.550$2,000
August 2912:00 PM CDTF1Newton, MS13.0100$200,000
August 2912:06 PM CDTF2Newton, MS1.075$50,000
August 2912:14 PM CDTF1Lauderdale, MS3.075$30,000
August 2912:22 PM CDTF1Lauderdale, MS3.050$60,000
August 2912:27 PM CDTF2Neshoba, MS3.0100$70,000
August 2912:36 PM CDTF1Neshoba, MS3.075$50,000
August 2912:39 PM CDTF1Neshoba, MS3.050$80,000
August 2912:48 PM CDTF1Neshoba, MS4.0150$100,000
August 291:05 PM CDTF1Neshoba, MS2.075$10,000
August 291:21 PM CDTF1Leake, MS2.075$10,000
August 291:55 PM CDTF1Tallapoosa, AL3.3300$70,000
August 293:16 PM CDTF0Montgomery, AL6.0300$190,000
August 294:24 PM EDTF2Heard, GA5.520013$5.2 million
August 293:30 PM CDTF0Bullock, AL0.125$1,000
August 293:53 PM CDTF1Calhoun, AL1.530$120,000
August 295:15 PM EDTF0Haralson, GA1.075$10,000
August 295:15 PM EDTF0Paulding, GA1.050$400,000
August 294:19 PM CDTF0Macon, AL3.0400$30,000
August 295:24 PM EDTF1Polk, GA2.850$50,000
August 296:15 PM EDTF0Forsyth, GA0.550$250,000
August 296:35 PM EDTF0Oconee, GA0.125$10,000
August 296:37 PM EDTF1Taylor, GA3.52501$250,000
August 295:41 PM CDTF0Russell, AL0.125$1,000
August 296:45 PM EDTF0Lumpkin, GA0.9125$40,000
August 297:06 PM EDTF0Evans, GA0.120
August 297:10 PM EDTF2Peach, GA4.0503$2.6 million
August 297:45 PM EDTF0Fannin, GA0.3100$250,000
August 297:45 PM EDTF1Spalding, GA1.01002$300,000
August 2910:25 PM EDTF0Walton, GA0.350$30,000
August 2911:05 PM EDTF0Barrow, GA1.5100$150,000
August 2911:35 PM EDTF0Jackson, GA1.020$20,000
August 2912:10 AM EDTF0Hall, GA11.050$260,000
August 2912:30 AM EDTF2White, GA5.0300$3.0 million

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.