EF2 tornado, Benevolence to Centerpoint, Georgia, April 5, 2017

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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

April 5, 2017

Touchdown

12:27 PM EDT (16:27 UTC)

Lifted

12:55 PM EDT (16:55 UTC)

On the ground

28 minutes

Path length

16.9 miles (27.1 km)

Path width

1,320 yards (1207 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$150,000

Counties

Randolph, Stewart and Webster counties

Touchdown point

31.911, -84.828

Lift-off point

31.971, -84.550

Record number

1704051027-01

5 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 100 mph.

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

Severe weather during the first week of April resulted in a couple of tornadoes and several reports of hail and straight line wind damage across the tri-state area.

Another strong short wave, the second in three days, rotated through a large and deep upper-level trough over the eastern U.S. A deep surface low and strong cold front moved through the state combining with moderate instability and strong low-level shear to produce another round of widespread severe weather across north and central Georgia, including several tornadoes.

This tornado touched down near the Randolph-Stewart county line. It was produced from the same supercell that spawned the tornado that impacted Henry and Barbour counties in Alabama and Quitman county in Georgia. The Randolph county portion of the tornado track was rated EF1 due to tree damage. This is a rural area, and no structures were damaged in Randolph county. This tornado continued into Stewart and Webster counties with the max intensity rated as EF2 in Stewart county with max winds estimated near 120 mph.

A National Weather Service survey team found that an EF2 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 120 MPH and a maximum path width of 1320 yards touched down |near the Randolph-Stewart County line along US Highway 27 and quickly moved northeast into Stewart County. The tornado touched down in extreme northwest Randolph County at EF1 strength. The tornado then traveled across southeast Stewart County snapping or uprooting trees. About 5 miles west of Weston, but still in Stewart County, EF2 damage occurred from County Road 91 across County Road 148 to the Freeman Extension south of Goodwins Pond Road. A number of trees were uprooted while most were snapped at the trunk, including trunks with diameters as large as 2 feet. Two chicken houses were destroyed and two trailers suffered roof damage. One of the trailers was largely destroyed, but not moved from its foundation. The tornado weakened to EF1 and continued into Webster County. No injuries were reported. [04/05/17: Tornado #3, County #1/2, EF-2, Stewart, Webster, 2017:062].

A National Weather Service survey team found that the tornado that began in Randolph County and moved across southeastern Stewart County moved into Webster County at EF1 intensity, with maximum wind speeds of 104 MPH and a maximum path width of 880 yards, south of Goodwins Pond Road. The tornado continued moving east crossing Highway 41 and Highway 520 before ending around the intersection of Hudson Leverette Road and County Road 23. The damage was mostly to trees, power lines, and small farm outbuildings. One peanut farm storage building was destroyed, but fortunately the employees had been sent home earlier in the day due to the threat for severe weather. The owner of the farm had left minutes prior to the arrival of the tornado after receiving a phone call stating that Weston was in the path of the storm. No injuries were reported. [04/05/17: Tornado #3, County #2/2, EF-1, Stewart, Webster, 2017:062].

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

23 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 16:04 UTC, 23 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 16:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 11:58 UTC and running to 16:57 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 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 12:44 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 2017 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

23 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.