Tornadoes · United States · Georgia · 2007
Unrated tornado, Dixie Union, Georgia, January 5, 2007
This Unrated tornado ran 2.0 miles across Ware County on January 5, 2007, touching down at 5:10 PM EST and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $20,000 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.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
Unratedthis tornado
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
- Unrated
- Date
- January 5, 2007
- Touchdown
- 5:10 PM EST (22:10 UTC)
- Lifted
- 5:15 PM EST (22:15 UTC)
- On the ground
- 5 minutes
- Path length
- 2.0 miles (3.2 km)
- Path width
- 100 yards (91 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $20,000
- County
- Ware County
- Touchdown point
- 31.320, -82.470
- Lift-off point
- 31.340, -82.470
- Record number
- 0701051610-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A squall line moved across north Florida and southeast Georgia during the eventing of the fifth.
At 17:10 A pump house was destroyed.|At 17:15 One block off of highway 1 in Dixie Union along Otter Road multiple mobile homes had their siding stripped. Trees down.
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 22:03 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:30 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:49 UTC and running to 00:57 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19:49 UTC | 00:57 UTC | Tornado Watch | JAX |
| 21:56 UTC | 22:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX |
| 22:03 UTC | 22:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | JAX |
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 19:59 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.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:03 UTC | HAIL 0.25 | 7 S Dixie Union | Ware, GA | SKY WARN SPOTTER OBSERVED PENNY SIZE HAIL ALONG US HIWAY ONE 7 MILES SOUTH OF DIXIE UNION. |
| 22:04 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 1 S Dixie Union | Ware, GA | WARE COUNTY 911 CENTER REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD AT THE TREE TOP LEVEL ALONG US HIWAY 1 JUST SOUTH OF DIXIE UNION. |
| 22:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Dixie Union | Ware, GA | POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE IN DIXIE UNION. A PUMP HOUSE WAS DESTROYED. A SURVEY TEAM IS ON ROUTE TO INVESTIGATE EXTENT OF DAMAGE. |
| 22:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Dixie Union | Ware, GA | POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE. 1 BLOCK OFF OF HIGHWAY 1 IN DIXIE UNION ALONG OTTER ROAD MULITIPLE MOBILE HOMES HAD THEIR SIDING STRIPPED. TREES DOWN. EMERGENCY MANAGER WILL BE CONDUCTING A STORM SURVEY TOMORROW TO DETERMINE IF |
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 January 5, 2007
12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 5 | 12:27 AM CST | Unrated | Jones, MS | 1.2 | 100 | $75,000 | ||
| January 5 | 12:40 AM CST | Unrated | Stone, MS | 0.4 | 50 | $50,000 | ||
| January 5 | 12:57 AM CST | Unrated | Newton, MS | 4.9 | 300 | $2.2 million | ||
| January 5 | 1:07 AM CST | Unrated | Neshoba, MS | 3.0 | 400 | $200,000 | ||
| January 5 | 1:25 AM CST | Unrated | Neshoba, MS | 1.4 | 150 | $150,000 | ||
| January 5 | 1:40 AM CST | Unrated | Kemper, MS | 2.2 | 250 | 9 | $600,000 | |
| January 5 | 2:05 AM CST | Unrated | Noxubee, MS | 3.7 | 300 | $20,000 | ||
| January 5 | 10:05 AM EST | Unrated | Coweta, GA | 5.4 | 200 | $250,000 | ||
| January 5 | 11:00 AM EST | Unrated | Coweta, GA | 1.7 | 200 | $45,000 | ||
| January 5 | 2:24 PM EST | Unrated | Pickens, SC | 0.1 | 20 | 15 | $50,000 | |
| January 5 | 3:11 PM EST | Unrated | Spartanburg, SC | 0.3 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| January 5 | 4:39 PM EST | Unrated | Gaston, NC | 0.3 | 20 | $20,000 |
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.