Tornadoes · United States · Georgia · 2007

EF1 tornado, Warwick, Georgia, April 15, 2007

This EF1 tornado ran 6.7 miles across Worth County on April 15, 2007, touching down at 3:23 AM EDT and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $30,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. EF5over 200 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
EF1
Date
April 15, 2007
Touchdown
3:23 AM EDT (07:23 UTC)
Lifted
3:37 AM EDT (07:37 UTC)
On the ground
14 minutes
Path length
6.7 miles (10.7 km)
Path width
200 yards (183 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$30,000
County
Worth County
Touchdown point
31.765, -83.920
Lift-off point
31.830, -83.837
Record number
0704150123-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A squall line of thunderstorms produced straight-line wind damage and three tornadoes across portions of southwest and south central Georgia during the evening and late night hours of April 14-15.

A tornado touched down south of Warwick and traveled northeast. Along its path, numerous downed trees and power lines blocked several roads including State Road 313. Also, a home and several silos were damaged. The tornado then crossed from northern Worth County into southwestern Crisp County (see Storm Data for Georgia, Central, for more information).

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

The warnings

1 minute of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 07:22 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 07:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 03:48 UTC and running to 10:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:00 UTC03:00 UTCLake Wind AdvisoryTAE
20:37 UTC03:48 UTCTornado WatchTAE
03:48 UTC10:00 UTCTornado WatchTAE
03:53 UTC04:35 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTAE
07:10 UTC07:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTAE
07:22 UTC07:45 UTCTornado WarningTAE
08:12 UTC19:19 UTCFire Weather WatchTAE
14:00 UTC16:42 UTCLake Wind AdvisoryTAE
16:42 UTC01:00 UTCWind AdvisoryTAE

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:53 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), 00:00Z

7.4 hours before the tornado, 160 km from the path. April 15, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2007-04-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 791 joules per kilogram, CIN -4, lifted condensation level 504 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, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2007-04-15The 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 65 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
791 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-4 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1121 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
504 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
65 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
222 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
198 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.2
Supercell composite
5.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 12:00Z

4.6 hours after it, 160 km from the path. April 15, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2007-04-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 541 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, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2007-04-15The 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 -50 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 82 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
2 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
541 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
82 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-50 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
52 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Robins AFB radar (KJGX), 109 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:22 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
04:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGAshburnTurner, GA2 TREES ON 2 CARS IN ASHBURN. TIME ESTIMATED.
07:23 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Se WarwickWorth, GAPOSSIBLE TORNADO. NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN. GARAGE, HOUSE AND SILOS DAMAGED. TREES BLOCKING ROADS IN THE AREA.
07:23 UTCTORNADO 14 Se WarwickWorth, GACONFIRMED TORNADO. NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN. GARAGE, HOUSE AND SILOS DAMAGED. TREES BLOCKING ROADS IN THE AREA. TORNADO RATED AS AN EF-1 WITH MAXIMUM WINDS OF 100 MPH. TRACK DISTANCE IN WORTH COUNTY WAS 6.5 MI
07:27 UTCTORNADO6 W ArabiCrisp, GATHE TORNADO TRAVELED NORTHEAST AND LIFTED AT 339 AM EDT ABOUT 3 MILES NORTHEAST OF ARABI. TOTAL PATH LENGTH IN CRISP COUNTY WAS 7.5 MILES. PATH WIDTH WAS 200 YARDS. THE TORNADO WAS RATED EF1 WITH A MAXIMUM WIND SPEED OF
07:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGCordeleCrisp, GASIDING WAS TORN OFF A MOBILE HOME AND A SWING SET WAS BLOWN OVER.
08:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGArabiCrisp, GANUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES BLOWN DOWN BLOCKING SEVERAL ROADS. SOME STRUCTURAL DAMAGE WAS ALSO REPORTED.
08:35 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Se WarwickWorth, GAPOSSIBLE TORNADO. TREES DOWN AND POWER OUTAGES VICINITY OF BASS RD., MT. OLIVE AND GLEATON RD.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 15, 2007

16 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 152:04 AM EDTEF1Treutlen, GA14.9440$705,000
April 152:05 AM EDTEF1Laurens, GA19.0100$325,000
April 152:56 AM EDTEF2Emanuel, GA5.4200$250,000
April 153:27 AM EDTEF1Crisp, GA7.9200$80,000
April 154:25 AM EDTEF2Dodge, GA3.6200$500,000
April 157:15 AM EDTEF2Baker, FL1.5300
April 157:47 AM EDTEF0Bamberg, SC7.650$1,000
April 158:11 AM EDTEF0Bamberg, SC4.250
April 158:20 AM EDTEF3Sumter, SC19.030015
April 158:50 AM EDTEF1Lee, SC3.6200$5,000
April 159:37 AM EDTEF0Orangeburg, SC6.250$1,000
April 159:38 AM EDTEF1Colleton, SC1.060$100,000
April 159:41 AM EDTEF1Colleton, SC0.530$10,000
April 159:44 AM EDTEF1Colleton, SC2.0809$200,000
April 1510:10 AM EDTEF1Saint Johns, FL0.250
April 1512:00 PM EDTEF0Polk, FL2.0300$250,000

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.