EF1 tornado, Pine Harbor, Georgia, April 13, 2009

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

April 13, 2009

Touchdown

4:40 PM EDT (20:40 UTC)

Lifted

4:47 PM EDT (20:47 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

8.0 miles (12.9 km)

Path width

770 yards (704 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$35,000

County

McIntosh County

Touchdown point

31.510, -81.490

Lift-off point

31.510, -81.490

Record number

0904131440-01

A warm front lifted northward into southeast Georgia spawning the development of numerous showers and thunderstorms.

A National Weather Service Storm Survey Team determined a tornado occurred south of the Credit Hill community off Briardam Road around 440 PM Eastern Daylight Time, which is located about 3 miles southeast of Townsend. The tornado traveled to the northeast across an open field and produced extensive tree damage to various pines and hardwoods. The tornado crossed Briardam Road and struck the First Credit Hill Baptist Church, lifting and destroying its large front end porch. Both the tree and structural damage to the church were consistent with an EF-1 tornado on the Enhanced Fujita Scale with winds estimated to be around 100 miles per hour. The tornado continued to move rapidly northeast while skirting the ground in various locations. The tornado crossed highway 57 and produced tree and fence damage to several areas along Church of God Road, before crossing interstate 95 around mile marker 61|where additional tree damage occurred. The tornado appears to have lifted around 457 PM eastern daylight time shortly before reaching highway 17 near the intersection with Tramm Road. The total track length of the tornado was 8 miles with a maximum width of 770 yards.|No fatalities or injuries were reported with this event.

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

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

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 19:59 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.

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.

Brunswick/Glynco (BQK), 28 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 116 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:37 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 2009 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

5 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.