Tornadoes · United States · Georgia · 2009

EF0 tornado, Boneville, Georgia, April 10, 2009

This EF0 tornado ran 0.4 miles across McDuffie County on April 10, 2009, touching down at 9:53 PM EDT and reaching 40 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $72,000 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 mphthis tornado

    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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
April 10, 2009
Touchdown
9:53 PM EDT (01:53 UTC)
Lifted
9:54 PM EDT (01:54 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.4 miles (0.7 km)
Path width
40 yards (37 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$72,000
County
McDuffie County
Touchdown point
33.459, -82.440
Lift-off point
33.461, -82.433
Record number
0904101953-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Supercell thunderstorms moved across the CSRA and produced large tornadoes. One tornado tracked across Columbia and Richmond counties then went into Aiken county South Carolina along highway 278. The second tornado tracked across Burke county then into lower Barnwell and Allendale counties in South Carolina. Several homes were destroyed and many had moderate to severe damage. Widespread trees and powerlines were also down. Total damage estimate was 3 million dollars.

Dispatch reported trees down, some on vehicles, on Moose Club road. NWS damage survey also found and minor damage to several homes.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:40 UTC and running to 05:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
15:00 UTC13:21 UTCLake Wind AdvisoryCAE
22:40 UTC05:00 UTCTornado WatchCAE
01:48 UTC02:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAE

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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:30 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.

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), 12:00Z

10.1 hours after it, 192 km from the path. April 11, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 2009-04-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -84211, lifted condensation level 896 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 2009-04-11The 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 -137 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 48 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-84211 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
896 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-137 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
89 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Robins AFB radar (KJGX), 122 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:51 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
00:49 UTCHAIL 0.887 Wsw Mount CarmelLincoln, GANICKEL SIZED HAIL ON HWY 79 NORTH OF BEULAH.
01:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Sse ThomsonMcduffie, GATREES DOWN ON MAY ROAD.
01:50 UTCTORNADO2 Wsw AugustaRichmond, GATORNADO ON GROUND REPORTED BY HAM RADIO OPERATOR NEAR BOBBY JONES XPWY AND GORDON HWY
01:50 UTCTORNADOGrovetownColumbia, GAPOSSIBLE TORNADO REPORTED BY GROVETOWN POLICE.
02:18 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Ene SpartaHancock, GAPOSSIBLE TORNADO
02:19 UTCTORNADO 02 Nw SpartaHancock, GABRIEF TORNADO PATH OF APPROXIMATELY 1.5 MILES. MAXIMUM PATH WINDTH 100 FEET...WITH MAXIMUM WINDS OF 80 MPH. ONE MOBILE HOME LOST SHINGLES...SIEDING...AND SOME WINDOWS.
02:23 UTCTORNADO 0Nne SpartaHancock, GAA SECOND TORNADO SPAWNED BY THE SAME THUNDERSTORM JUST A LITTLE FURTHER EAST. PATH LENGTH WAS ESTIMATED TO BE 1.1 MILES...MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH 100 FEET...AND MAXIMUM WINDS 80 MPH. NUMEROUS TREES WERE DOWN ALONG THE PATH OF
02:28 UTCTORNADO 32 Ene SpartaHancock, GA*** 1 INJ *** THE SAME PARENT THUNDERSTORM THAT PREVIOUSLY CAUSED TWO BRIEF EF0 TORNADOES SPAWNED A THIRD AND MUCH STRONGER EF3 TORNADO ABOUT HALFWAY BETWEEN SPARTA AND CULVERTON. ONE 4000 SQ. FT. SITE-BUILT TWO-STORY HO
02:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 N HarlemColumbia, GAPOWERLINES AND TREES DOWN COUNTY WIDE.
02:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGGrovetownColumbia, GALARGE TREE DOWN ON RAILROAD AVE
02:30 UTCHAIL 1.75EvansColumbia, GAMARBLE TO GOLF BALL SIZED HAIL ON VEHICLES.
02:38 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 W AugustaRichmond, GAPOSSIBLE TORNADO VICINITY OF BARTON CHAPEL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ON BARTON CHAPEL RD IN RICHMOND COUNTY. STRUCTURAL DAMAGE. POWER LINES DOWN. METAL ROOFIING MATERIAL TWISTED IN TREES. INJURED PEOPLE BEING TREATED ON THE SCEN
02:54 UTCTORNADO3 Sw AugustaRichmond, GAHOUSE HIT BY TORNADO IN RICHMOND CO ON PRIMROSE DR. INFO MONITORED ON RICHMOND FIRE SERVICE DISPATCH CHANNEL.
03:15 UTCTSTM WND DMGGibsonGlascock, GA
03:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Nnw WaynesboroBurke, GANUMEROUS TREES DOWN NEAR HWY 25 AND COHEN ROAD. POSSIBLE TORNADO.
03:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 W AugustaRichmond, GAPOWER OUTAGES. SEVERAL ROOFS BLOWN OFF HOUSES. TREES DOWN. DAMAGE WAS ON BARTON CHAPEL ROAD NEAR HWY 78 AND SCOTT RD AT PEACH ORCHARD NEAR HWY 25.
03:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG7 S KeysvilleBurke, GANUMEROUS TREES DOWN ALONG ROUTE 305. POSSIBLE TORNADO.
03:55 UTCTSTM WND DMG7 S KeysvilleBurke, GATREE DOWN BLOCKING WILLIAM TINDLEY ROAD IN BURKE COUNTY NEAR SAINT CLAIRE.
04:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGGibsonGlascock, GAISOLATED DAMAGE FROM POSSIBLE BRIEF TORNADO NEAR LOGUE AVE IN GIBSON. OUTBUILDING DESTROYED AND PORCH RIPPED OFF HOUSE. FOUR TREES DOWN. NO DAMAGE TO SURROUNDING AREAS.
04:02 UTCHAIL 0.753 W MitchellWashington, GA
04:02 UTCHAIL 0.75Hamburg State ParkWashington, GA
04:15 UTCTORNADO3 Nne StapletonJefferson, GALIKELY TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN NEAR HWY 80 AND HWY 296 AT HEARTSGROVE BAPTIST CHURCH. PART OF ROOF AND BRICK SIDING AND CHIMNEY FROM CHURCH REMOVED. TIPPED OVER SEVERAL GRANITE HEADSTONES IN ADJACENT CEMETARY. NUMEROUS TREE

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2009 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 10, 2009

63 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 101:27 AM CDTEF1Richland Parish, LA4.4100$10,000
April 105:38 AM CDTEF0Marshall, AL2.0200$16,000
April 1010:41 AM CDTEF1Benton, TN4.075$500,000
April 1010:50 AM CDTEF0Humphreys, TN1.025$10,000
April 1010:59 AM CDTEF1Humphreys, TN12.0300$200,000
April 1011:16 AM CDTEF0Calloway, KY0.375$200,000
April 1011:45 AM CDTEF1Lyon, KY0.3501$70,000
April 1011:47 AM CDTEF0Christian, KY1.650$14,000
April 1011:54 AM CDTEF3Hopkins, KY2.0752$152,000
April 1012:19 PM CDTEF4Murfreesboro tornado, TN23.3750258$100 million
April 1012:49 PM CDTEF1Sumner, TN0.650$200,000
April 1012:58 PM CDTEF0Rutherford, TN0.225$5,000
April 101:01 PM CDTEF1Rutherford, TN3.7100$60,000
April 101:19 PM CDTEF0Cannon, TN0.875$10,000
April 101:59 PM CDTEF0Limestone, AL0.210$20,000
April 103:13 PM EDTEF1Lincoln, KY7.5100$140,000
April 102:18 PM CDTEF0Coffee, TN0.325
April 102:22 PM CDTEF1Putnam, TN6.0100$100,000
April 103:02 PM CDTEF2Sequatchie, TN5.0175$100,000
April 103:02 PM CDTEF3Marshall, AL32.54405
April 103:05 PM CDTEF1Sequatchie, TN0.240$15,000
April 104:23 PM EDTEF1Hamilton, TN0.530$50,000
April 105:00 PM EDTEF2Chattooga, GA0.3200$900,000
April 106:04 PM EDTEF1Pickens, GA3.4440$25,000
April 106:30 PM EDTEF0Oconee, SC0.130
April 106:53 PM EDTEF2Franklin, GA9.5200
April 106:57 PM EDTEF1Forsyth, GA0.2200$200,000
April 107:23 PM EDTEF1Anderson, SC2.8400$300,000
April 107:50 PM EDTEF0Anderson, SC1.6100
April 107:12 PM CDTEF1Tallapoosa, AL10.1250$52,000
April 108:23 PM EDTEF1Abbeville, SC1.2200$50,000
April 108:28 PM EDTEF2Abbeville, SC6.73002$1.0 million
April 107:30 PM CDTEF1Lee, AL5.5300$150,000
April 108:32 PM EDTEF1Union, SC3.9350$400,000
April 108:41 PM EDTEF1Greenwood, SC4.6200$200,000
April 108:43 PM EDTEF1Greenwood, SC2.6200$300,000
April 107:51 PM CDTEF1Lee, AL2.2100$30,000
April 108:04 PM CDTEF1Russell, AL5.9150$10,000
April 108:19 PM CDTEF1Russell, AL1.0502$120,000
April 108:26 PM CDTEF1Macon, AL25.5440$210,000
April 109:46 PM EDTEF1Chattahoochee, GA3.7440$100,000
April 108:48 PM CDTEF1Montgomery, AL26.1440$366,000
April 1010:00 PM EDTEF1Chattahoochee, GA3.7100$150,000
April 1010:19 PM EDTEF0Hancock, GA1.133$10,000
April 109:20 PM CDTEF1Russell, AL0.51501$50,000
April 1010:23 PM EDTEF0Hancock, GA0.333$7,000
April 1010:28 PM EDTEF3Hancock, GA6.88801$500,000
April 1010:30 PM EDTEF3Columbia, GA17.788012$6.0 million
April 1010:56 PM EDTEF0Glascock, GA0.3150$4,000
April 1010:57 PM EDTEF3Aiken, SC14.688014$5.0 million
April 1011:00 PM EDTEF1Sumter, GA25.1250$380,000
April 1011:20 PM EDTEF0Dooly, GA5.5100$50,000
April 1011:34 PM EDTEF3Burke, GA26.38804$3.0 million
April 1011:40 PM EDTEF1Sumter, GA1.2200$5,000
April 1012:02 AM EDTEF1Glascock, GA4.6200$102,000
April 1012:15 AM EDTEF1Sumter, GA2.9200$1.0 million
April 1012:17 AM EDTEF0Barnwell, SC0.1100
April 1012:23 AM EDTEF1Crisp, GA25.3200$700,000
April 1012:24 AM EDTEF1Terrell, GA0.6100$300,000
April 1012:26 AM EDTEF1Allendale, SC1.2300$1.0 million

All 64 of them

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.