Tornadoes · United States · Georgia · 2006

F0 tornado, Woodbine, Georgia, January 13, 2006

This F0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Camden County on January 13, 2006, touching down at 8:30 PM EST. It killed nobody, and did $200,000 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 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
January 13, 2006
Touchdown
8:30 PM EST (01:30 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
0 yards (0 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$200,000
County
Camden County
Touchdown point
30.920, -81.650
Lift-off point
30.920, -81.650
Record number
35

What the Weather Service recorded

A weak F0 tornado touched down along I-95 about 5 miles southeast of Woodbine. Many trees were snapped off in a swath along I-95. A tractor-trailer was lifted and blown off of the interstate along the southbound lanes. The driver sustained no reported injuries. The tractor-trailer was carrying other cars, which were damaged in the accident from colliding with each other. Another vehicle was hit by a snapped tree. This driver also sustained no reported injuries.

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

The warnings

7 minutes of warning. NWS JAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:23 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:53 UTC and running to 04:05 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
07:52 UTC13:42 UTCDense Fog AdvisoryJAX
21:26 UTC22:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAX
21:53 UTC04:05 UTCTornado WatchJAX
01:16 UTC02:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAX
01:23 UTC02:00 UTCTornado WarningJAX
05:23 UTC09:20 UTCLake Wind AdvisoryJAX
09:20 UTC23:00 UTCWind AdvisoryJAX

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 00:45 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.

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), 00:00Z

1.5 hours before the tornado, 47 km from the path. January 14, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jacksonville, FL at 00:00Z on 2006-01-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 990 joules per kilogram, CIN -12, lifted condensation level 720 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, Jacksonville, FL at 00:00Z on 2006-01-14The 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 210 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 38 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
990 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-12 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1058 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
720 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
210 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
227 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.1
Supercell composite
5.5
0-3 km lapse rate
6.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), 12:00Z

10.5 hours after it, 47 km from the path. January 14, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jacksonville, FL at 12:00Z on 2006-01-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 997 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Jacksonville, FL at 12:00Z on 2006-01-14The 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 40 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 27 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
997 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
40 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
79 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Brunswick/Malcolm (SSI), 36 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
23:53 UTC6361160° 10 kt1007.5-RA
00:53 UTC6260180° 10 kt1006.8
01:03 UTC62.660.8170° 10 kt1006.4
01:50 UTC62.660.8180° 9 kt1005.8VCTS -RA BR
01:53 UTC6361170° 11 kt1005.8VCTS -RA BR
01:56 UTC62.660.8170° 10 kt1005.4VCTS +RA BR
02:09 UTC64.460.8230° 14 kt1005.1-TSRA
02:29 UTC64.462.6180° 8 kt1004.7
02:43 UTC64.462.6190° 8 kt1004.7VCTS
02:45 UTC64.462.6180° 8 kt1004.4VCTS
02:53 UTC6562190° 9 kt1004.1TS
02:58 UTC64.462.6180° 9 kt1003.7TS
03:15 UTC66.262.6210° 17 kt241004.1VCTS -RA BR

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

The radar

The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 49 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:27 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
01:30 UTCDOWNBURST5 Se WoodbineCamden, GAFINAL ASSESSMENT OF AREA INDICATED STRAIGHT-LINE WIND DAMAGE. NUMEROUS LARGE TREES SNAPPED AND LAYING IN SAME DIRECTION.
01:30 UTCTORNADO5 Se WoodbineCamden, GAPOSSIBLE TORNADO AT MILE MARKER 11 ON INTERSTATE 95. PRELIMARY REPORT OF SEVERAL TRACTOR TRAILER BLOWN OFF THE HIGHWAY.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of January 13, 2006

14 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 134:20 AM CSTF1Concordia Parish, LA2.01001$450,000
January 1310:01 AM CSTF1Conecuh, AL1.08801$500,000
January 1310:41 AM CSTF0Okaloosa, FL4.05013$2.0 million
January 1310:56 AM CSTF1Santa Rosa, FL0.875$500,000
January 1312:00 PM CSTF0Dale, AL1.050$500,000
January 1312:20 PM CSTF0Barbour, AL8.51001$250,000
January 1312:45 PM CSTF0Henry, AL0.250$100,000
January 134:15 PM ESTF1Colquitt, GA9.61001$2.0 million
January 135:18 PM ESTF0Lexington, SC0.240
January 138:00 PM ESTF0Bamberg, SC0.140
January 138:06 PM ESTF1Gaston, NC0.5100$350,000
January 138:25 PM ESTF0Orangeburg, SC0.350
January 139:02 PM ESTF0Orangeburg, SC0.350$10,000
January 139:35 PM ESTF1Clarendon, SC6.044018$500,000

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.