EF0 tornado, Putnam to Walls Crossing, Georgia, March 15, 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

March 15, 2009

Touchdown

1:55 PM EDT (17:55 UTC)

Lifted

1:58 PM EDT (17:58 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

2.3 miles (3.7 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$127,000

Counties

Schley and Marion counties

Touchdown point

32.260, -84.430

Lift-off point

32.275, -84.395

Record number

0903151155-01

A relatively weak and broad upper trough was progressing slowly from the mid-south into the southeast U.S. from March 15th through the 16th. A weak cold front accompanied the system and was located across southern Alabama and southern Georgia, with a surface low pressure system located along the front across southeastern Alabama. Although instability was non-existent because of a relatively cool, stable air mass over the region, strong low-level shear and a low level jet were evident across central Georgia. The shear was sufficient enough that a heavy shower, with no indicated cloud-to-ground lightning, produced a brief 2-mile long EF0 tornado across eastern Marion and western Schley counties during the early afternoon.

The Marion County Emergency Management Director reported that an EF0 tornado touched down in eastern Marion county, approximately two miles northwest of Putnam, and traveled east-northeast into extreme western Schley county before lifting. The total path length of the tornado was around two miles. The maximum path width was 100 yards. Within Marion county, one tin outbuilding was destroyed and patio furniture was overturned. Some trees were also down in the area.

The Marion County Emergency Management Director reported that the tornado, which began in eastern Marion county approximately two miles northwest of Putnam, continued on a two-mile east-northeastward track into extreme western Schley county. The tornado lifted approximately 2.1 miles northwest of Walls Crossing. The tornado continued to have a maximum path width in Schley county of 100 yards. Within Schley county, nearly 500 trees were either snapped or uprooted along the brief 1/2 mile long path. No structural damage was reported within Schley county.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:17 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.

The Robins AFB radar (KJGX), 109 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:54 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

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.