Tornadoes · United States · Georgia · 2016
EF1 tornado, Clarks Mill to Chickasawhatchee, Georgia, February 23, 2016
From Clarks Mill to Chickasawhatchee, this EF1 tornado ran 5.1 miles across Terrell County on February 23, 2016, touching down at 12:55 AM EST and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed nobody.
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 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
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
- EF1
- Date
- February 23, 2016
- Touchdown
- 12:55 AM EST (05:55 UTC)
- Lifted
- 1:02 AM EST (06:02 UTC)
- On the ground
- 7 minutes
- Path length
- 5.1 miles (8.2 km)
- Path width
- 200 yards (183 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Terrell County
- Touchdown point
- 31.640, -84.420
- Lift-off point
- 31.703, -84.373
- Record number
- 1602232355-01
The damage survey
17 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TAE, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 104 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
An unusually strong upper level trough and area of low pressure moved across the southeast states during the Feb 23-24 period, bringing with it numerous reports of wind damage and tornadoes. The low level jet was particularly strong with very strong 0-1 km shear values in excess of 60 knots. The 0-1 km helicity values were in excess of 1000 m2/s2 in some areas with CAPE values around 500 j/kg. There were a total of 11 tornadoes across southeast Alabama and southwest Georgia, including 9 EF1 tornadoes and 2 EF0 tornadoes.
Damage along this path was primarily to pine and pecan trees. A portion of the southern end was a focused area of uprooted and snapped mature pines. Much of the tornado track ran along Bobby Locke Road. This tornado was rated EF1 with max winds estimated around 90 mph.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
3 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 05:52 UTC, 3 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:30 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 02:10 UTC and running to 07:57 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02:10 UTC | 07:57 UTC | Tornado Watch | TAE |
| 05:19 UTC | 06:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE |
| 05:50 UTC | 06:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE |
| 05:52 UTC | 06:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | TAE |
| 06:10 UTC | 07:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE |
| 08:54 UTC | 23:00 UTC | Wind Advisory | TAE |
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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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 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.
Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 00:00Z
5.9 hours before the tornado, 142 km from the path. February 24, 2016.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 100 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -47 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 368 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 605 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 48 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 22 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 120 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 177 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.2
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.7 K/km
Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 12:00Z
6.1 hours after it, 142 km from the path. February 24, 2016.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 159 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -67 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1137 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 700 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 68 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 45 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 261 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 306 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.2
- Supercell composite
- 5.2
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.0 K/km
The radar
The Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 103 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:56 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 05:07 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 4 Nw Blakely | Early, GA | THIS TORNADO BEGAN AROUND GRIMSLEY ROAD WITH TREE DAMAGE NOTED IN SURROUNDING FIELDS. IT THEN MOVED NORTHEAST... CROSSING STATE HIGHWAY 39 TO THE NORTHWEST OF BLAKELY. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE WAS NOTED IN A GROVE OF |
| 05:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Sse Fort Gaines | Clay, GA | TREES DOWNED AROUND HIGHWAY 37 NEAR FORT GAINES. |
| 05:50 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Ssw Arlington | Early, GA | TREE DOWN ON POWER LINE NEAR ARLINGTON RESULTING IN POWER OUTAGE |
| 05:55 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 3 E Clarks Mill | Terrell, GA | RATED EF1 WITH A PATH LENGTH OF 5.1 MILES. DAMAGE WAS PRIMARILY TO PINE AND PECAN TREES. A PORTION OF THE SOUTHERN END WAS A FOCUSED AREA OF UPROOTED AND SNAPPED MATURE PINES...LEADING TO THE EF1 RATING. MUCH OF THE TORN |
| 06:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Wsw Chickasawhatchee | Terrell, GA | BROADCAST MEDIA REPORTS MULTIPLE TREES DOWN ALONG BOBBY LOCKE ROAD JUST OFF SASSER HEROD ROAD. WALB-TV REPORT. |
| 06:05 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Se Hentown | Early, GA | A FEW TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN JUST INTO EARLY COUNTY ALONG HIGHWAY 27. |
| 06:06 UTC | TSTM WND GST 53 | Sasser | Terrell, GA | MEASURED ON THE T BRIM FARM GEORGIA MESONET OBSERVATION IN TERRELL COUNTY. |
| 06:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 S Oakland | Lee, GA | TREE BLOWN DOWN ON HICKORY RIDGE COURT. |
| 06:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Ene Douglasville | Baker, GA | A FEW TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN ALONG HIGHWAY 216 JUST INTO BAKER COUNTY. |
| 06:20 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 N Walker | Dougherty, GA | TREE DOWN ON THE 5400 BLOCK OF OLD DAWSON ROAD |
| 06:22 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Nw Albany | Dougherty, GA | LARGE PINE TREE BLOWN DOWN IN NORTHWEST ALBANY PER PUBLIC POST TO WALB-TV FACEBOOK PAGE. |
| 06:22 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Nne Turner City | Lee, GA | TREE BLOWN DOWN OFF STOCKS DAIRY ROAD PER A PUBLIC POST TO WALB-TV FACEBOOK PAGE. |
| 06:22 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 Wnw Albany | Dougherty, GA | TWO TREES WERE REPORTED TO HAVE FALLEN ON A HOME ON THE 2800 BLOCK OF DOUBLEGATE DRIVE |
| 06:26 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 3 Sse Chokee | Lee, GA | TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN BRIEFLY ALONG GRAY MOSS RD WITH A PATH LENGTH OF LESS THAN 0.5 MI. RATED EF1. THERE WAS SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO A MOBILE HOME ROOF...ALONG WITH THE COMPLETE REMOVAL OF AN ASPHALT ROOF OF A SINGLE FAMIL |
| 06:26 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Sse Chokee | Lee, GA | ROOF OFF OF BRICK HOUSE AND MOBILE HOME SEVERELY DAMAGED AND DEBRIS IN TREES ON GRAY MOSS RD. NO INJURIES. |
| 06:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Warwick | Worth, GA | A FEW TREES BLOWN DOWN IN NORTHERN WORTH COUNTY. |
| 06:33 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 W Elmodel Wma | Baker, GA | TREE UPROOTED JUST WEST OF ELMODEL WITH OTHER LARGE LIMBS BLOWN DOWN IN THE AREA |
| 06:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Wsw Cordele | Crisp, GA | METAL ROOF BLOWN OFF A POLE BARN ON HIGHWAY 33 BETWEEN COFER AND LANDFILL ROADS. |
| 08:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Nne Sylvester | Worth, GA | ROOF PARTIALLY BLOWN OFF LIGHTHOUSE CHURCH NEAR SYLVESTER. REPORTED BY WFXL-TV. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2016 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of February 23, 2016
38 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 23 | 5:53 AM CST | EF0 | Wharton, TX | 2.0 | 30 | |||
| February 23 | 11:11 AM CST | EF0 | Jefferson Parish, LA | 0.6 | 50 | |||
| February 23 | 11:20 AM CST | EF0 | Iberville Parish, LA | 3.3 | 50 | |||
| February 23 | 12:08 PM CST | EF0 | Ascension Parish, LA | 1.6 | 200 | |||
| February 23 | 12:42 PM CST | EF2 | Livingston Parish, LA | 4.3 | 625 | |||
| February 23 | 1:14 PM CST | EF0 | Saint Helena Parish, LA | 0.3 | 50 | |||
| February 23 | 2:37 PM CST | EF1 | St. Mary Parish, LA | 2.6 | 50 | $40,000 | ||
| February 23 | 3:10 PM CST | EF0 | Iberville Parish, LA | 1.0 | 200 | |||
| February 23 | 3:21 PM CST | EF3 | Assumption Parish, LA | 7.8 | 350 | |||
| February 23 | 3:31 PM CST | EF2 | Saint James Parish, LA | 12.9 | 350 | 2 | 75 | |
| February 23 | 3:45 PM CST | EF1 | Lincoln, MS | 0.5 | 75 | $40,000 | ||
| February 23 | 3:49 PM CST | EF1 | Pearl River, MS | 9.5 | 150 | |||
| February 23 | 3:50 PM CST | EF1 | Pearl River, MS | 5.2 | 200 | $25,000 | ||
| February 23 | 4:07 PM CST | EF0 | Lamar, MS | 0.1 | 25 | $5,000 | ||
| February 23 | 4:15 PM CST | EF1 | Saint John the Baptist Parish, LA | 3.1 | 250 | |||
| February 23 | 4:15 PM CST | EF2 | Lamar, MS | 5.6 | 100 | 1 | $105,000 | |
| February 23 | 4:22 PM CST | EF0 | Pickens, AL | 4.8 | 150 | |||
| February 23 | 4:29 PM CST | EF1 | Lamar, MS | 1.4 | 75 | $10,000 | ||
| February 23 | 4:32 PM CST | EF2 | Saint John the Baptist Parish, LA | 4.7 | 250 | 17 | ||
| February 23 | 4:41 PM CST | EF0 | Saint Tammany Parish, LA | 0.4 | 25 | |||
| February 23 | 4:42 PM CST | EF0 | Yazoo, MS | 1.1 | 100 | $25,000 | ||
| February 23 | 4:46 PM CST | EF0 | Simpson, MS | 0.6 | 40 | $13,000 | ||
| February 23 | 5:13 PM CST | EF0 | Saint Tammany Parish, LA | 1.5 | 75 | |||
| February 23 | 5:25 PM CST | EF1 | Greene, MS | 1.5 | 75 | $100,000 | ||
| February 23 | 5:32 PM CST | EF1 | Greene, MS | 0.0 | 75 | $25,000 | ||
| February 23 | 5:45 PM CST | EF1 | Greene, MS | 1.6 | 150 | $200,000 | ||
| February 23 | 6:01 PM CST | EF1 | Marion, AL | 2.2 | 300 | |||
| February 23 | 6:01 PM CST | EF0 | Forrest, MS | 3.9 | 75 | $15,000 | ||
| February 23 | 8:10 PM CST | EF3 | Escambia, FL | 3.0 | 300 | 3 | $22 million | |
| February 23 | 8:17 PM CST | EF1 | Santa Rosa, FL | 2.7 | 100 | $75,000 | ||
| February 23 | 10:15 PM CST | EF0 | Houston, AL | 2.8 | 200 | $50,000 | ||
| February 23 | 10:24 PM CST | EF1 | Dale, AL | 4.8 | 200 | |||
| February 23 | 10:31 PM CST | EF1 | Houston, AL | 1.6 | 350 | $50,000 | ||
| February 23 | 10:34 PM CST | EF1 | Houston, AL | 3.7 | 900 | $75,000 | ||
| February 23 | 10:38 PM CST | EF1 | Henry, AL | 1.1 | 300 | $50,000 | ||
| February 23 | 10:54 PM CST | EF0 | Henry, AL | 0.4 | 100 | |||
| February 23 | 11:02 PM CST | EF1 | Henry, AL | 0.5 | 150 | |||
| February 23 | 12:07 AM EST | EF1 | Early, GA | 2.2 | 350 |
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.