EF1 tornado, Waleska to Sandy Spgs, Georgia, June 13, 2013

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

June 13, 2013

Touchdown

7:30 PM EDT (23:30 UTC)

Lifted

7:43 PM EDT (23:43 UTC)

On the ground

13 minutes

Path length

12.9 miles (20.8 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$363,000

Counties

Cobb, Cherokee and Fulton counties

Touchdown point

34.078, -84.516

Lift-off point

33.955, -84.348

Record number

1306131730-01

44 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FFC, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.

• Several trees snapped or uprooted.
• Several trees snapped or uprooted, some on houses.
• Large limbs down on McClesky Drive NE.
• Large branches down at the intersection of Keheley Rd and Millhouse Landing.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A strong shortwave moved from the Ohio Valley into the Mid Atlantic States during the day. A surface cold front pushed into north Georgia ahead of the shortwave during the morning, progressing into central Georgia during the afternoon hours. Temperatures climbed into the 90s across most of the area with strong instability in place as well as deep layer shear, supportive of severe thunderstorm development. Numerous severe thunderstorms did indeed develop with mainly downed trees and some large hail, but two small tornadoes also touched down.

A National Weather Service storm survey team determined that an EF-1 tornado touched down near the intersection of Patriot Trail and Rampley Trail, causing mainly tree damage as it headed southeast toward Canton. Along Marietta Road and Hickory Flat Highway, a Chevron gas station sustained roof damage, and a gas pump was blown over. Dozens of trees were snapped or uprooted. The tornado then headed south-southeast causing additional tree damage, lifting near the intersection of New Light Road and Hickory Road. Two minor injuries occurred in Canton as a result of trees falling.|[06/13/13: Tornado #1, County #1-1, EF1, Cherokee, 2013:011].

A National Weather Service survey team determined that a second tornado touched down just within a tenth of a mile of the Cherokee-Cobb County line along Woodhaven Drive. Trees and large limbs were reported down at this location before the tornado moved into Cobb County.|[06/13/13: Tornado #2, County #1-3, EF1, Cherokee-Cobb-Fulton, 2013:012].

The tornado that touched down just inside the Cherokee County line moved into Cobb County and strengthened to an EF-1. The tornado tracked southeast through Cobb County with the most significant damage occurring near Wendwood Drive Northeast and near Bishop Lake where dozens of trees were snapped and uprooted, many causing damage to homes. The tornado continued to track southeast, and crossed the Chattahoochee River at the Cobb-Fulton County line near the Morgan Falls Dam.|[06/13/13: Tornado #2, County #2-3, EF1, Cherokee-Cobb-Fulton, 2013:012].

A National Weather Service storm survey team determined that the tornado that began in Cherokee County and passed through Cobb County lifted in Fulton County. It moved over the Chattahoochee River near Morgan Falls, retaining its EF-1 strength as it snapped and uprooted dozens of trees along the riverbank. It damaged roofs at the Laurel at Overlook Park Apartments. Netting polls at the driving range at the Steel Canyon Golf Club were damaged, with the netting ripped off or tangled. The tornado continued southeast, snapping or uprooting trees until it finally lifted just short of the DeKalb County line, where it snapped and uprooted a few trees along Twin Branch Road.|[06/13/13: Tornado #2, County #3-3, EF1, Cherokee-Cobb-Fulton, 2013:012].

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

3 minutes of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:27 UTC, 3 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 17:40 UTC and running to 00:51 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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 Atlanta radar (KFFC), 74 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:31 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 2013 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

14 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.