EF0 tornado, Crosland, Georgia, February 24, 2012

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

February 24, 2012

Touchdown

1:42 PM EST (18:42 UTC)

Lifted

1:47 PM EST (18:47 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

3.8 miles (6.0 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$20,000

County

Colquitt County

Touchdown point

31.299, -83.577

Lift-off point

31.317, -83.517

Record number

1202241242-01

A strong cold front moved through the area during the afternoon hours with a 993 mb low centered near Lake Erie. An unusually warm and moist airmass for this time of year was in place across the local area with dewpoints in the upper 60s and SBCAPE values between 1000-1500 j/kg during the morning hours and over 2000 j/kg during the afternoon hours. Shear was also high with 0-1 km shear values around 30 knots and 0-6 km shear values around 70 knots. Farther north across north-central Georgia and Alabama, deep layer shear values were in excess of 80 knots as observed on the morning soundings from BMX and FFC. This combination of instability and shear led to the development of some severe thunderstorms during the afternoon hours, including one weak tornado. A big limiting factor to the development of stronger tornadoes during the afternoon was the rather straight hodographs and lack of significant directional shear, despite the fact that the speed shear was significant.

A weak tornado touched down in the vicinity of Ellenton Omega Road and traveled northeastward a short distance while skipping up and down before lifting permanently near the Colquitt/Cook county border. Damage to barns, trees down, pivots destroyed, and some roof damage to homes was reported. Most of the damage from this tornado was on Sharon Church Rd, South Powell Rd, Ellenton Omega Rd, Buddy Baker Rd, St. Paul Church Rd, Albert Brady Rd, and Lawyer Sumner Rd. Maximum winds were estimated around 80 mph. Monetary damage was estimated.

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

14 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:28 UTC, 14 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:29 UTC and running to 21:32 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 16:39 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 2012 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

4 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.