EF0 tornado, Lilly, Georgia, March 28, 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 28, 2009

Touchdown

10:50 AM EDT (14:50 UTC)

Lifted

10:51 AM EDT (14:51 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.3 miles (0.5 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$100,000

County

Dooly County

Touchdown point

32.138, -83.839

Lift-off point

32.140, -83.836

Record number

0903280850-01

A deep and intensifying upper trough was moving from the southwest U.S. into the southeast U.S. from March 27th through the 29th. Several rounds of showers and thunderstorms preceded the final passage of the upper low on the 29th. Three to four inches of rain fell across many areas of north and central Georgia during this three-day period. A number of streams, creeks, and rivers reached or exceeded bankful across north and central Georgia as the result of several days of at least moderate rainfall. In addition, a number of the thunderstorms became severe on the 29th as the main upper trough moved through the area. While most of the severe weather was in the form of damaging winds and hail, an isolated tornado was observed in Dooly county during the late morning hours on the 28th.

The Dooly County Emergency Management Director confirmed that a brief EF0 tornado touched down along Pleasant Valley Road, between Steele Road and Truman Road, approximately four miles northwest of Vienna, and tracked northeast for about 1/4 mile or 500 yards. The maximum path width was determined to be 50 yards. At least 50 trees were uprooted or snapped in half along the path of the tornado. Several homes were damaged from the downed trees. Six homes sustained minor roof damage when shingles or guttering was blown off. Some metal carports were damaged and a few outbuildings were destroyed.

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

9 minutes of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 14:41 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 15:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 14:20 UTC and running to 21:20 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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:32 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), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 14:50 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

13 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.