Tornadoes · United States · Georgia · 2014
EF0 tornado, Box Spgs to Talbotton, Georgia, November 23, 2014
From Box Spgs to Talbotton, this EF0 tornado ran 3.2 miles across Talbot County on November 23, 2014, touching down at 4:01 PM EST and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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 23, 2014
- Touchdown
- 4:01 PM EST (21:01 UTC)
- Lifted
- 4:05 PM EST (21:05 UTC)
- On the ground
- 4 minutes
- Path length
- 3.2 miles (5.1 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $5,000
- County
- Talbot County
- Touchdown point
- 32.615, -84.551
- Lift-off point
- 32.653, -84.521
- Record number
- 1411231501-01
The damage survey
2 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 105 mph.
Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.
What the Weather Service recorded
Moderate instability and strong shear associated with a deepening upper-level trough and surface low produced scattered thunderstorms across portions of Central Georgia. Several severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and several tornadoes occurred in the afternoon and early evening hours along and behind a warm front lifting north across the state.
A NWS storm survey team found that an EF-1 tornado, with maximum wind speeds of 100 MPH, crossed Upatoi Creek from Marion County into Talbot County west of the Juniper community. The tornado tracked northeast around 2.5 miles mile before lifting around Benson Lake near the intersection of U.S. Highway 80 and the Cusseta Highway. The tornado caused mainly damage to trees with several hardwood and softwood trees snapped or uprooted. [11/23/14: Tornado #3, County #3-3, EF1, Chattahoochee-Marion-Talbot, 2014:020].
A NWS storm survey team found that an EF-0 tornado, with maximum wind speeds of 80 MPH, touched down in Talbot County south of the city of Talbotton near the intersection of Oak Grove Church Road and State Highway 22. The tornado tracked northeast for just over 3 miles before lifting near Packing House Road, causing mainly damage to trees. [11/23/14: Tornado #4, County #1-1, EF0, Talbot, 2014:021].
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
0 minutes of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:01 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:30 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20:32 UTC | 21:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | FFC |
| 21:01 UTC | 21:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | FFC |
| 21:25 UTC | 22:13 UTC | Tornado Watch | FFC |
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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:48 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.
Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), 12:00Z
9.0 hours before the tornado, 82 km from the path. November 23, 2014.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- 0 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 430 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 42 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 20 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 162 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 380 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 2.7 K/km
Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), 00:00Z
3.0 hours after it, 82 km from the path. November 24, 2014.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 8 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -6 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 28 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 617 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 81 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 48 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 365 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 368 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.6 K/km
The radar
The Atlanta radar (KFFC), 81 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:01 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Columbus | Muscogee, GA | MULTIPLE TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN ON WELLBORN DRIVE. |
| 20:40 UTC | TORNADO | 1 W Cusseta | Chattahoochee, GA | THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF THE TORNADO THAT FORMED IN ALABMA AND MOVED ACROSS STEWART COUNTY INTO CHATTAHOOCHEE COUNTY PRODUCING WIDESPREAD TREE DAMAGE NEAR CUSSETTA. |
| 20:48 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Columbus | Muscogee, GA | TREE DOWN ON HOME ON FLOYD COURT. |
| 21:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 N Geneva | Talbot, GA | NUMEROUS TREES DOWN...SOME TWISTED... IN AN AREA ALONG HIGHWAY 80 BETWEEN GENEVA AND TALBOTTON. |
| 21:10 UTC | TORNADO | 2 N Geneva | Talbot, GA | THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF THE TORNADO THAT FORMED IN ALABAMA AND MOVED INTO STEWART COUNTY AND NORTHEAST FOR OVER 100 MILES. NUMEROUS TREES DOWN...SOME TWISTED... IN AN AREA ALONG HIGHWAY 80 BETWEEN GENEVA AND TALBOTTON. |
| 21:22 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Carsonville | Taylor, GA | TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN ACROSS THE COUNTY. |
| 21:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Ssw Silvertown | Upson, GA | TREES SNAPPED AND POWER LINES DOWNED AT EMMAUS CHURCH RD AND MILL RACE RD. |
| 21:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Thomaston | Upson, GA | TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN ACROSS THE COUNTY. |
| 21:27 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Delray | Upson, GA | A HOME WAS DAMAGED BY A FALLING TREE AT ADAMS RD AND DELRAY RD. |
| 21:27 UTC | TORNADO | Delray | Upson, GA | THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF THE TORNADO THAT FORMED IN ALABAMA AND MOVED INTO STEWART COUNTY AND NORTHEAST FOR OVER 100 MILES. A HOME WAS DAMAGED BY A FALLING TREE AT ADAMS RD AND DELRAY RD ALONG WITH MINOR DAMAGE TO OTHER |
| 21:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Musella | Crawford, GA | NUMEROUS TREES AND POWERLINES REPORTED DOWN IN CRAWFORD COUNTY. |
| 21:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Culloden | Monroe, GA | PATH OF WIND DAMAGE STARTS NEAR CULLODEN ON HWY 74 AND CONTINUES NORTHEAST. MULTIPLE TREES DOWN AND TREE TOPS SNAPPED. |
| 21:40 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Nne Milner Crossroads | Lamar, GA | THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF THE TORNADO THAT FORMED IN ALABAMA AND MOVED INTO STEWART COUNTY AND NORTHEAST FOR GREATER THAN 100 MILES. A METAL BUILDING SYSTEM HAD ITS ROOF COMPROMISED AND WALLS WERE PARTIALLY PULLED FROM T |
| 21:40 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Nw Dyas | Monroe, GA | A TORNADO TRACKED FROM THE SOUTHWEST TO THE NORTHEAST ACROSS MONROE COUNTY. THE TORNADO CAUSED A BARN COLLAPSE...PEELED A ROOF OFF OF A SECOND BARN...DESTROYED A SHED AND DOWNED MULTIPLE TREES AND POWER LINES. THE TORNAD |
| 21:50 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Nne Milner Crossroads | Lamar, GA | THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF THE TORNADO THAT FORMED IN ALABAMA AND MOVED INTO STEWART COUNTY AND NORTHEAST FOR GREATER THAN 100 MILES. A METAL BUILDING SYSTEM HAD ITS ROOF COMPROMISED AND WALLS WERE PARTIALLY PULLED FROM T |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2014 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of November 23, 2014
9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 23 | 11:35 AM CST | EF0 | Greene, AL | 2.0 | 150 | |||
| November 23 | 2:03 PM CST | EF1 | Stewart, AL to GA | 16.7 | 400 | $25,000 | ||
| November 23 | 3:27 PM EST | EF1 | Stewart, GA | 0.5 | 100 | $5,000 | ||
| November 23 | 3:37 PM EST | EF1 | Chattahoochee, GA | 21.1 | 75 | $33,000 | ||
| November 23 | 4:20 PM EST | EF0 | Upson, GA | 11.0 | 200 | $45,000 | ||
| November 23 | 4:40 PM EST | EF0 | Lamar, GA | 1.4 | 70 | $10,000 | ||
| November 23 | 4:40 PM EST | EF1 | Monroe, GA | 20.0 | 70 | $30,000 | ||
| November 23 | 4:49 PM EST | EF1 | Lamar, GA | 21.6 | 100 | $32,000 | ||
| November 23 | 5:10 PM EST | EF1 | Houston, GA | 6.4 | 50 | $55,000 |
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.