EF1 tornado, Oglethorpe to Five Points, Georgia, January 21, 2012

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   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

EF1

Date

January 21, 2012

Touchdown

3:45 PM EST (20:45 UTC)

Lifted

4:00 PM EST (21:00 UTC)

On the ground

15 minutes

Path length

8.2 miles (13.2 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$300,000

County

Macon County

Touchdown point

32.340, -84.064

Lift-off point

32.292, -83.936

Record number

1201211445-01

An area of low pressure over the Southern Plains moved quickly east and toward the Southern Appalachians during the day. Moisture and instability increased across the Southeast as a warm front lifted north of the region. Thunderstorms developed in the warm sector ahead of the approaching cold front, and many became severe. Three tornadoes touched down with this system, along with multiple reports of hail and wind damage. Flash flooding was also reported in the Atlanta Metropolitan area as a result of heavy rainfall.

A National Weather Service assessment team determined that an EF-1 tornado occurred in southeast Macon County. The tornado initially touched down as EF-0 with winds around 75 MPH along Highway 128 just north of Oglethorpe. The tornado then strengthened to an EF-1 with maximum winds near 110 MPH along Highway 49 near Four Points where a house was destroyed and numerous trees were snapped and uprooted. The tornado continued east-southeast, causing significant damage along Mennonite School Road just north of Highway 26 where two large chicken houses were completely destroyed and another was significantly damaged. The tornado lifted as an EF-0 near Five Points along Highway 26. Overall, an estimated 25 trees were downed or snapped, approximately five houses received roof damage, one house lost its porch and another house was completely destroyed. Three large chicken houses were damaged or destroyed and one barn roof was lifted off.||[01/21/12: Tornado #2, County #1-1, EF1, Macon, 2012:002].

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

17 minutes of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:28 UTC, 17 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:42 UTC and running to 22:46 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 19:58 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.

Americus (ACJ), 29 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 20:44 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 2012 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

2 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.