F0 tornado, Douglas, Georgia, March 22, 2005

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

March 22, 2005

Touchdown

2:30 PM EST (19:30 UTC)

Path length

3.0 miles (4.8 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Coffee County

Touchdown point

31.550, -82.880

Lift-off point

31.530, -82.870

Record number

274

Emergency Management reported widespread damage just NW of Douglas along Rocky Pond Road, and determined that the damage was caused by a weak tornado. Numerous trees and power lines were down and snapped. Several tin roofs were blown off buildings along Rocky Pond Road and Highway 206. Three semi-trucks were overturned at the American Truck Parts facility, and 2 mobile homes were damaged and shifted off of their foundations along Rocky Pond Road. EMA noted a path was cut through the trees and damage occurred to another mobile home and one old home was destroyed. At 315 pm EDT, the county dispatch had received numerous calls of strong wind damage throughout Douglas, which the EM reported as being caused by the weak tornado. Path length and width were estimated based on time of reports and EM descriptions. Below is a time line of reports received by NWS Jacksonville: 0230 pm EDT: Numerous trees and power lines were down and several tin roofs blown off along Rocky Pond Road near Highway 32. 0230 pm EDT: Emergency Management reported that a weak and small tornado overturned 3 semi-trucks, damaged and shifted 2 mobile homes, and cut a narrow path through the trees and damaged another mobile home and destroyed an old house. 0250 pm EDT: Local Dispatch in Douglas reported 2 mobile homes were destroyed, power lines down and dime size hail in Douglas. 0305 pm EDT: Local Dispatch in Douglas reported a single wide mobile home was blown off of its foundation and a shed was destroyed. 0305 pm EDT: Local Dispatch in Douglas reported a semi-truck was overturned and road signs down on Highway 32 NNW of Douglas. 0315 pm EDT: Emergency Management relayed a report that the 911 center in Douglas was receiving widespread wind damage reports.

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

29 minutes of warning. NWS JAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:01 UTC, 29 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:00 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:19 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.

Douglas_muni_arpt (DQH), 7 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 2005 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

10 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.