Tornadoes · United States · Georgia · 2011

EF0 tornado, Hephzibah, Georgia, November 16, 2011

This EF0 tornado ran 1.1 miles across Richmond County on November 16, 2011, touching down at 4:53 PM EST and reaching 40 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
November 16, 2011
Touchdown
4:53 PM EST (21:53 UTC)
Lifted
4:57 PM EST (21:57 UTC)
On the ground
4 minutes
Path length
1.1 miles (1.8 km)
Path width
40 yards (37 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Richmond County
Touchdown point
33.320, -82.083
Lift-off point
33.331, -82.068
Record number
1111161553-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A couple of supercell thunderstorms moved throught he CSRA and produced a couple of tornadoes in Burke and Richmond counties.

WRDW reported a tornado touchdown near Hephzibah taking down trees in rural areas east of Hephzibah. Photo attached.

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

The warnings

40 minutes of warning. NWS CAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:13 UTC, 40 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:35 UTC and running to 02:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
17:00 UTC04:54 UTCLake Wind AdvisoryCAE
18:35 UTC02:00 UTCTornado WatchCAE
21:13 UTC22:15 UTCTornado WarningCAE
22:01 UTC22:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAE

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 forecast that day

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 19:31 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 air that afternoon

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.

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), 12:00Z

9.9 hours before the tornado, 199 km from the path. November 16, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Charleston AFB, SC at 12:00Z on 2011-11-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 347 joules per kilogram, CIN -68, lifted condensation level 485 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Charleston AFB, SC at 12:00Z on 2011-11-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 127 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 45 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
347 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-68 J/kg
Surface CAPE
23 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
485 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
127 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
137 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.4
0-3 km lapse rate
4.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), 00:00Z

2.1 hours after it, 199 km from the path. November 17, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Charleston AFB, SC at 00:00Z on 2011-11-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1172 joules per kilogram, CIN -58, lifted condensation level 683 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Charleston AFB, SC at 00:00Z on 2011-11-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 195 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 63 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1172 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-58 J/kg
Surface CAPE
540 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
683 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
63 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
195 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
199 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.4
Supercell composite
7.9
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 112 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:53 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
21:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG6 Nne LouisvilleJefferson, GAJEFFERSON COUNTY RELAYED REPORTS OF 4 DOWNED TREES AND 2 DOWNED POWERLINES.
21:57 UTCTORNADOHephzibahRichmond, GAPUBLIC REPORT OF TORNADO NEAR WINDSOR SPRINGS ROAD IN HEPHZIBAH - PHOTO FROM WRDW AUGUSTA
22:05 UTCTSTM WND GST 586 Sse AugustaRichmond, GAAGS ASOS REPORTS 58 MPH WIND GUST
22:31 UTCTSTM WND DMGWaynesboroBurke, GAPUBLIC REPORT OF STORAGE BUILDING BLOWN OVER IN WAYNESBORO - RELAYED BY WRDW PHOTO - TIME ESTIMATED WITH RADAR
23:11 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Se HerndonJenkins, GAJENKINS COUNTY WARNING POINT REPORTED ONE TREE DOWN ALONG WEST OLD SAVANNAH ROAD. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
23:39 UTCTSTM WND DMG8 Ene WaynesboroBurke, GABURKE COUNTY EM REPORTS 3 RECREATIONAL VEHICLES FLIPPED OVER...POWERLINES DOWN AND A LARGE TREE BLOWN ONTO THE ROOF OF A HOUSE NEAR SEVEN OAK ROAD AND HWY 23 IN THE SHELL BLUFF AREA.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2011 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of November 16, 2011

20 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 162:40 AM CSTEF1Saint Helena Parish, LA0.5150$50,000
November 163:35 AM CSTEF0Terrebonne Parish, LA0.125$30,000
November 164:11 AM CSTEF1Marion, MS9.6440$300,000
November 165:03 AM CSTEF1Jones, MS2.250$60,000
November 165:12 AM CSTEF2Jones, MS12.930015$650,000
November 167:07 AM CSTEF2Sumter, AL1.56001$200,000
November 167:32 AM CSTEF0Marengo, AL2.8250$300,000
November 169:00 AM CSTEF0Clarke, AL0.350$5,000
November 1611:08 AM CSTEF1Montgomery, AL0.975$500,000
November 1611:52 AM CSTEF2Macon, AL to GA61.58804$9.5 million
November 164:25 PM ESTEF0Cleveland, NC0.350$5,000
November 165:06 PM ESTEF0Union, SC0.150$1.0 million
November 165:30 PM ESTEF1Chester, SC1.4100$20,000
November 165:32 PM ESTEF2York, SC5.820035$1.0 million
November 165:34 PM ESTEF1Burke, GA6.5100$200,000
November 165:53 PM ESTEF0Aiken, SC7.470$20,000
November 166:05 PM ESTEF2Davidson, NC12.5200215$21 million
November 166:55 PM ESTEF1Pittsylvania, VA2.6125$500,000
November 168:40 PM ESTEF1Ware, GA0.2200$8,000
November 1611:14 PM ESTEF0Hertford, NC1.750$10,000

What this means

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.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.