Tornadoes · United States · Georgia

2009 tornadoes in Georgia

56 tornadoes touched down in Georgia in 2009, 115 percent above the average of the record for the state. They killed 1 people and injured 26.

2008 2010 The whole country in 2009

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 mph

    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.

Every tornado in Georgia in 2009

January 6 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 65:05 PM ESTEF0Chattooga2.1100$50,000

January 7 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 73:00 AM ESTEF0Monroe2.9100$25,000

February 18 13 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 185:45 PM ESTEF0Taylor3.933$50,000
February 186:25 PM ESTEF0Houston0.01
February 186:44 PM ESTEF1Oconee5.4880$200,000
February 187:15 PM ESTEF1Jasper3.0440$250,000
February 187:19 PM ESTEF1Putnam8.71,3201$200,000
February 187:26 PM ESTEF3Wilkes19.7880$300,000
February 188:05 PM ESTEF1Newton2.8200$625,000
February 188:16 PM ESTEF1Jasper7.2440$125,000
February 188:30 PM ESTEF0Meriwether0.017$1,000
February 188:30 PM ESTEF2Coweta20.41,760$1.3 million
February 1810:48 PM ESTEF3Hancock10.450013$550,000
February 1812:50 AM ESTEF2Grady5.9250$1.0 million
February 1812:55 AM ESTEF2Thomas10.4400$10 million

February 19 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 191:20 AM ESTEF3Thomas1.4500$100,000

March 15 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 151:55 PM EDTEF0Schley2.3100$127,000

March 28 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 2810:50 AM EDTEF0Dooly0.350$100,000

March 31 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 316:12 PM EDTEF0Colquitt0.125

April 10 21 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 105:00 PM EDTEF2Chattooga0.3200$900,000
April 106:04 PM EDTEF1Pickens3.4440$25,000
April 106:53 PM EDTEF2Franklin9.5200
April 106:57 PM EDTEF1Forsyth0.2200$200,000
April 109:46 PM EDTEF1Chattahoochee3.7440$100,000
April 109:53 PM EDTEF0McDuffie0.440$72,000
April 1010:00 PM EDTEF1Chattahoochee3.7100$150,000
April 1010:19 PM EDTEF0Hancock1.133$10,000
April 1010:23 PM EDTEF0Hancock0.333$7,000
April 1010:28 PM EDTEF3Hancock6.88801$500,000
April 1010:30 PM EDTEF3Columbia17.788012$6.0 million
April 1010:56 PM EDTEF0Glascock0.3150$4,000
April 1011:00 PM EDTEF1Sumter25.1250$380,000
April 1011:20 PM EDTEF0Dooly5.5100$50,000
April 1011:34 PM EDTEF3Burke26.38804$3.0 million
April 1011:40 PM EDTEF1Sumter1.2200$5,000
April 1012:02 AM EDTEF1Glascock4.6200$102,000
April 1012:15 AM EDTEF1Sumter2.9200$1.0 million
April 1012:23 AM EDTEF1Crisp25.3200$700,000
April 1012:24 AM EDTEF1Terrell0.6100$300,000
April 1012:34 AM EDTEF0Burke2.2100$5,000

April 13 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 1312:40 PM EDTEF1Ben Hill2.9100$200,000
April 132:40 PM EDTEF0Appling5.5100
April 134:40 PM EDTEF1McIntosh8.0770$35,000

April 19 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 1911:00 PM EDTEF1Cherokee1.58802$5.0 million

June 4 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 44:03 PM EDTEF0Glynn2.175
June 48:50 PM EDTEF0Worth0.250$35,000

October 15 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
October 157:00 PM EDTEF1Sumter2.1100$125,000

October 27 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
October 275:56 PM EDTEF0Long0.055$15,000
October 276:28 PM EDTEF2Liberty0.8880

December 2 6 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 21:30 PM ESTEF0Jones1.5100$15,000
December 21:55 PM ESTEF0Putnam1.7100$100,000
December 22:02 PM ESTEF0Putnam0.8100$120,000
December 22:15 PM ESTEF0Coffee3.2100
December 22:45 PM ESTEF1Bacon0.7100$3.0 million
December 23:15 PM ESTEF2Pierce5.14402

December 9 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 92:15 PM ESTEF1Wayne1.62501

Crossed into Georgia

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

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 1910:33 PM CDTEF2Muscogee, AL to GA3.5250$3.5 million

Nearby

Every tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in GeorgiaThe 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.