EF1 tornado, Sessoms Station, Georgia, December 2, 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

December 2, 2009

Touchdown

2:45 PM EST (19:45 UTC)

Lifted

2:48 PM EST (19:48 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

0.7 miles (1.1 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$3.0 million

County

Bacon County

Touchdown point

31.623, -82.581

Lift-off point

31.632, -82.577

Record number

0912021345-01

Strong mid and upper low initially over Texas was moving east-northeast while the upper level trough it was embedded in became negatively tilted. This led to a broad diffluent pattern over most of the southeastern states. As the system approached the right rear quadrant of upper jet moved into the forecast area coincident with a low-level jet of, at least, 60 knots. This created atmospheric dynamics favorable for severe weather, with the only limiting factor being modest instability. A warm front over the area during the morning moved rapidly north in response to increasing southerly flow allowing a gradual increase in low level instability. By afternoon several severe weather events and three tornadoes occurred over portions of southeast Georgia.

A weak tornado touched down briefly in an open field and tracked northeast, striking a set of chicken houses. Damage was estimated at nearly $3 million to the chicken houses. The structure was primarily made of wood and tin, and amount of damage, mainly to roof of one section, and total collapse of a 2-story section, suggests EF1 damage. Significant damage to trees was also noted along track.

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

35 minutes of warning. NWS JAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:10 UTC, 35 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:50 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 15:32 UTC and running to 19:46 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 16:30 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 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.

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

6 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.