Tornadoes · United States · Georgia

2008 tornadoes in Georgia

65 tornadoes touched down in Georgia in 2008, 150 percent above the average of the record for the state. They killed 5 people and injured 83. 1 were rated F4 or EF4 and above.

2007 2009 The whole country in 2008

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.
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.

Every tornado in Georgia in 2008

February 17 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
February 17	3:52 PM EST	EF1	Carroll	4.0	150		$150,000
February 17	5:05 PM EST	EF0	Chattahoochee	48.5	100		$310,000
February 17	6:18 PM EST	EF1	Crawford	10.0	250	8	$550,000
February 17	7:01 PM EST	EF0	Jones	2.4	50		$50,000

February 18 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 18	1:38 AM EST	EF0	Decatur	2.0	75			$75,000
February 18	2:00 AM EST	EF1	Grady	3.9	75		1	$150,000

February 26 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
February 26	5:55 AM EST	EF3	Carroll	7.2	100	1	$8.0 million
February 26	6:10 AM EST	EF1	Carroll	2.0	100	1	$7.0 million
February 26	6:25 AM EST	EF0	Cobb	0.1	20		$5,000

March 7 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
March 7	10:20 AM EST	EF1	Wayne	0.6	200		$1,000
March 7	10:20 AM EST	EF1	Charlton	5.5	100
March 7	10:27 AM EST	EF0	Brantley	0.0	50
March 7	10:57 AM EST	EF0	McIntosh	0.0	25
March 7	11:30 AM EST	EF0	Camden	0.6	100
March 7	7:25 PM EST	EF1	Douglas	7.0	100	1	$2.0 million

March 14 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 14	9:38 PM EDT	EF2	Fulton	6.3	200	1	30	$25 million

March 15 11 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 15	12:25 PM EDT	EF3	Polk	16.9	880	2	2	$7.5 million
March 15	2:44 PM EDT	EF0	Franklin	3.2	20
March 15	4:19 PM EDT	EF2	Elbert	8.0	100			$100,000
March 15	4:28 PM EDT	EF0	Lincoln	1.1	110
March 15	5:48 PM EDT	EF0	McDuffie	4.6	110
March 15	5:53 PM EDT	EF1	Columbia	5.3	440		2	$140,000
March 15	6:15 PM EDT	EF0	Butts	4.4	100			$150,000
March 15	6:15 PM EDT	EF2	Jefferson	22.1	880			$500,000
March 15	7:05 PM EDT	EF1	Burke	15.2	440			$100,000
March 15	9:34 PM EDT	EF2	Effingham	7.0	440		5	$1.5 million
March 15	9:44 PM EDT	EF2	Effingham	0.5	100			$3.0 million

May 11 19 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 11	4:08 AM EDT	EF2	Carroll	0.1	100			$2.0 million
May 11	4:08 AM EDT	EF2	Troup	1.0	150			$80,000
May 11	4:18 AM EDT	EF2	Troup	3.8	300			$80,000
May 11	4:25 AM EDT	EF2	Carroll	0.1	100			$7.0 million
May 11	5:17 AM EDT	EF2	Clayton	17.5	100			$7.5 million
May 11	5:50 AM EDT	EF2	Bibb	18.4	100			$5.0 million
May 11	6:15 AM EDT	EF1	Twiggs	24.8	100			$4.0 million
May 11	6:36 AM EDT	EF2	Laurens	13.8	250	2	2	$1.4 million
May 11	6:44 AM EDT	EF1	Johnson	10.1	581		5	$16 million
May 11	6:45 AM EDT	EF0	Washington	33.6	440			$5.2 million
May 11	6:58 AM EDT	EF1	Laurens	0.4	200			$900,000
May 11	7:01 AM EDT	EF2	Johnson	7.5	880		3	$7.8 million
May 11	7:11 AM EDT	EF3	Treutlen	7.7	150			$225,000
May 11	7:20 AM EDT	EF2	Toombs	1.1	150		3	$500,000
May 11	7:33 AM EDT	EF0	Jenkins	1.7	1,200		1	$50,000
May 11	7:35 AM EDT	EF3	Toombs	7.3	200		2	$1.0 million
May 11	8:10 AM EDT	EF1	Bulloch	2.3	300			$125,000
May 11	9:52 AM EDT	EF4	Darien tornado	11.0	700		9	$13 million
May 11	2:40 PM EDT	EF1	Glynn	5.2	200

May 20 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
May 20	6:20 PM EDT	EF0	Washington	1.0	50		$2,000
May 20	6:35 PM EDT	EF1	Cherokee	5.9	1,760	4	$46 million
May 20	7:41 PM EDT	EF0	Burke	10.4	600		$56,000
May 20	9:00 PM EDT	EF1	Hancock	4.8	125		$76,000

June 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 19	3:37 PM EDT	EF1	Chatham	0.8	100			$3.1 million

August 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 23	4:50 PM EDT	EF1	Cook	1.4	75			$25,000

August 25 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 25	10:02 PM EDT	EF0	Miller	0.9	75			$75,000

August 26 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
August 26	12:10 PM EDT	EF0	Monroe	0.3	50
August 26	12:25 PM EDT	EF1	Hall	1.1	200		$550,000
August 26	1:18 PM CDT	EF1	Hart to SC	12.4	30
August 26	3:38 PM EDT	EF1	Hall	4.8	100		$750,000
August 26	4:20 PM EDT	EF1	Hall	0.8	100		$100,000
August 26	4:30 PM EDT	EF1	Jackson	7.6	100	3	$350,000
August 26	6:55 PM EDT	EF0	Wilkes	5.1	100		$30,000

October 8 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 8	4:35 PM EDT	EF0	Fayette	0.1	50			$125,000

October 9 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 9	11:43 AM EDT	EF0	Clinch	0.3	30

October 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 24	6:55 PM EDT	EF0	Camden	0.3	25			$500

December 10 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
December 10	7:41 AM EST	EF0	Haralson	0.1	50			$600,000

December 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
December 11	9:55 AM EST	EF0	Pierce	0.7	50

Crossed into Georgia

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Georgia. They are counted under the state they began in.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 17	3:40 PM CST	EF2	Russell, AL to GA	17.1	1,000		4	$140,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Georgia since 1950 Warnings in force in Georgia The live radar over Georgia

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.