EF1 tornado, Arcade to Commerce, Georgia, August 26, 2008

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.

Rating

EF1

Date

August 26, 2008

Touchdown

4:30 PM EDT (20:30 UTC)

Lifted

4:47 PM EDT (20:47 UTC)

On the ground

17 minutes

Path length

7.6 miles (12.3 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

3

Property damage

$350,000

County

Jackson County

Touchdown point

34.120, -83.550

Lift-off point

34.203, -83.462

Record number

0808261430-01

The remnants of tropical storm Fay continued to move northeast into central and northern Alabama on the 26th, then finally into eastern Tennessee on the 27th. This was the day when north and central Georgia experienced its maximum effects from tropical storm Fay. The outer rain bands of tropical storm Fay spawned six tornadoes across north and central Georgia during the afternoon and evening hours of the 26th. The majority of these affected northeast and east central Georgia. Three injuries were reported in Jackson county as a result of one of these tornadoes and damage was reported to a shopping center and an elementary school in Hall county. In addition, widespread heavy rain affected much of north and central Georgia with flash flooding reported in several northeast Georgia mountain counties. Storm total rainfall from Fay was as high as seven to eight inches across the northeast Georgia mountain counties of White, Lumpkin, Union, and Towns, as well as in adjacent Hall county. Similar rainfall totals were observed in parts of west central Georgia south and southeast of Columbus, although most of this occurred during the first passage of Fay to the south through the Florida Panhandle.

A survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City and the Jackson County Emergency Management Agency confirmed that an EF1 tornado touched down and caused considerable damage in northeast Jackson county. The tornado initially touched down very briefly about three miles east-northeast of Arcade near the Brockton Loop before lifting. Only minor damage to tree limbs was noted in this area. The tornado then touched down again within the city of Commerce and tracked approximately 1.25 miles through the city before lifting before reaching the Banks county line. Approximately 40 trees were uprooted or blown over by the tornado, which caused extensive damage to homes in the area. A total of three mobile homes were destroyed, one by wind, and two others from downed trees, while up to 15 site-built homes sustained minor roof damage. Three residents of the destroyed mobile homes were treated for injuries. The maximum path width of the tornado, within the city of Commerce, was determined to be 100 yards. Maximum wind within the tornado was estimated to be 100 mph.

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

22 minutes of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:08 UTC, 22 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 14:05 UTC and running to 23:07 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:56 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.

The Atlanta radar (KFFC), 132 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:32 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2008 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

14 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.