Tornadoes · United States · Georgia · 2005

F2 tornado, White County, Georgia, August 29, 2005

This F2 tornado ran 5.0 miles across White County on August 29, 2005, touching down at 12:30 AM EDT and reaching 300 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $3.0 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
August 29, 2005
Touchdown
12:30 AM EDT (04:30 UTC)
Path length
5.0 miles (8.0 km)
Path width
300 yards (274 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$3.0 million
County
White County
Touchdown point
34.670, -83.700
Lift-off point
34.730, -83.720
Record number
1133

The warnings

19 minutes of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:11 UTC, 19 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:45 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
23:24 UTC00:00 UTCTornado WarningFFC
04:11 UTC04:45 UTCTornado WarningFFC

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 00:12 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.

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), 00:00Z

4.5 hours before the tornado, 165 km from the path. August 30, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA 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 1046 joules per kilogram, CIN -8, lifted condensation level 650 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, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA 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 331 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
1046 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-8 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1357 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
650 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
331 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
425 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.1
Supercell composite
10.9
0-3 km lapse rate
5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), 12:00Z

7.5 hours after it, 165 km from the path. August 30, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z 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 482 joules per kilogram, CIN -2, lifted condensation level 648 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, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z 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 222 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 41 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
482 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-2 J/kg
Surface CAPE
895 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
648 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
222 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
227 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.5
Supercell composite
3.8
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Gainsville (GVL), 49 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
02:43 UTC75.273.4100° 8 kt161010.5-RA BR
02:53 UTC7573120° 7 kt151010.8RA BR
03:02 UTC75.273.4120° 10 kt151010.8VCTS RA BR
03:11 UTC75.273.4130° 8 kt151010.5VCTS RA BR
03:15 UTC75.273.4110° 9 kt151010.5VCTS +RA BR
03:20 UTC75.273.4100° 9 kt1010.2VCTS +RA BR
03:27 UTC73.471.6150° 9 kt221010.5RA BR
03:30 UTC73.471.6130° 10 kt221010.5VCTS RA BR
03:33 UTC73.471.6 6 kt181010.2VCTS +RA BR
03:40 UTC73.471.6190° 8 kt221010.2VCTS RA BR
03:43 UTC73.471.6 6 kt221010.5VCTS RA BR
03:45 UTC73.471.6160° 8 kt221010.5VCTS +RA BR
03:53 UTC7472140° 8 kt1010.2VCTS -RA BR
04:00 UTC75.273.4130° 8 kt1009.8-RA
04:21 UTC75.273.4130° 10 kt171009.8
04:53 UTC7573120° 10 kt161009.5
05:53 UTC7573150° 11 kt161009.5
06:18 UTC75.271.6140° 10 kt181008.8

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

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 138 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:28 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
04:10 UTCTSTM WND DMGLulaHall, GAPOSSIBLE TORNADO IN LULA AREA. 6 MILE PATH OF TREES DOWN. SEVERAL HOMES DAMAGED ON HEMLOCK STREET.
04:10 UTCTORNADOLulaHall, GAF0 TORNADO. DAMAGE PATH FROM ONE MILE SOUTH OF LULA TO JUST WEST OF LULA TO NEAR MOSSY CREEK IN WHITE COUNTY...JUST SOUTHEAST OF CLEVELAND. DAMAGE PATH WAS 10 MILES LONG AND ABOUT 50 YARDS WIDE. DOZENS OF TREES WERE BLOW
04:25 UTCTORNADO8 Se ClevelandWhite, GAF0 TORNADO. THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF THE F0 TORNADO THAT BEGAN ONE MILE SOUTH OF LULA AND TRAVELLED NNW FOR 10 MILES...TERMINATING NEAR MOSSY CREEK IN WHITE COUNTY. OVERALL DAMAGE PATH WAS 10 MILES LONG AND 50 YARDS WID
04:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGHelenWhite, GAPOSSIBLE TORNADO. EXTENSIVE DAMAGE IN HELEN TO A CIRCLE K, A MOTEL, AND NUMEROUS TREES DOWN.
04:30 UTCTORNADOHelenWhite, GAF2 TORNADO. DAMAGE PATH FROM THREE MILES SSE OF HELEN TO NEAR ANNA RUBY FALLS NORTH OF HELEN. DAMAGE PATH WAS 5 MILES LONG AND 50 TO 300 YARDS WIDE. DOZENS OF TREES AND MANY POWER LINES DOWN IN THE AREA. SIGNIFICANT DAMA

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 296:26 PM EDTF0Decatur, GA3.050
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

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.