EF0 tornado, Eatonton, Georgia, December 2, 2009

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

December 2, 2009

Touchdown

1:55 PM EST (18:55 UTC)

Lifted

1:58 PM EST (18:58 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

1.7 miles (2.8 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$100,000

County

Putnam County

Touchdown point

33.320, -83.454

Lift-off point

33.339, -83.436

Record number

0912021255-01

An intense closed upper low was rotating northeast from a mean central U.S. upper trough. A strong surface low was located across the lower Mississippi Valley and mid-Gulf coastal region, with a warm front extending eastward across central Georgia. Warm, moist Gulf air was surging north into central Georgia as the warm front moved northward. Strong dynamics combined with the increasingly unstable, moist air mass to produce widespread heavy rain and scattered strong thunderstorms. Several of the storms produced tornadoes across east central Georgia during the afternoon. Rainfall of 3 to 4 inches on saturated ground resulted in widespread river flooding for several days following this event.||In addition to the severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, and flooding, the strong dynamics associated with the system resulted in strong gradient winds in advance of the system. The strong winds blew trees down in some counties, especially across north and east Georgia. Baldwin and Bibb counties experienced strong gradient winds on the back side of a large rain area and in advance of a line of thunderstorms moving just to the northwest of these counties. At least five trees were down in northern Bartow county in northwest Georgia, also from strong gradient winds. The winds blew down some trees and power lines in these counties. RAWS observations verified a high wind warning (via local criteria of 45 mph) that was in effect for the higher elevations of north Georgia.

A damage survey conducted by the National Weather Service in Peachtree City, Georgia confirmed that yet another brief EF0 tornado touched down in central Georgia, this time in western Putnam county. This tornado, as was the case with the earlier one in northern Jones county, touched down in a heavily forested area of the Oconee National Forest in western Putnam county. The tornado touched down approximately 4.3 miles west of Eatonton and traveled approximately 1.5 miles on a northeastward path before lifting about 3.5 miles west-northwest of Eatonton. Maximum winds with this tornado were estimated to be 85 mph with a maximum path width of 100 yards. As was the case with the Jones county tornado, the damage was confined to trees. In this case, nearly 500 trees were snapped off or uprooted along the damage path. At least 50 of these trees were down across forestry roads. Two hunters were trapped in the area by the downed trees, but were subsequently rescued unharmed when the forestry roads were cleared.

A damage survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Georgia confirmed that yet a third tornado had touched down in central Georgia. This tornado also touched down in Putnam county, but this time was rated an EF1 with maximum winds of 90 mph. This tornado touched down near Little Road and Harmony Road, approximately 8.2 miles north-north of Eatonton, then moved north-northeast to a point near 9.0 miles north-northeast of Eatonton. The maximum path width was determined to be 100 yards. Hundreds of trees and several power lines were down along the path of the tornado. One mobile home was rolled over on its side. The occupant of the mobile home escaped uninjured, but was taken to the hospital anyway because of a coronary episode. At least one outbuilding was destroyed, tin roofing was blown off a portion of one home's roof, and some fencing was also blown down along the path of the tornado.

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

11 minutes of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:44 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:15 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 General Thunderstorms Risk, with a 0.02 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.

Milledgeville (MLJ), 27 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Robins AFB radar (KJGX), 73 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:53 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

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.