EF2 tornado, Stilson to Pineora, Georgia, February 9, 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

February 9, 2017

Touchdown

3:51 AM EST (08:51 UTC)

Lifted

4:03 AM EST (09:03 UTC)

On the ground

12 minutes

Path length

9.8 miles (15.8 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

7

Counties

Bulloch and Effingham counties

Touchdown point

32.340, -81.560

Lift-off point

32.300, -81.399

Record number

1702090251-01

25 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS CHS, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 130 mph.

• Some branches and small pines snapped.
• Approximate center of tornado through the field with snapped and uprooted trees either side.
• Approximate north edge. Big uprooted and snapped trees, hard and softwood.
• Possible tornado center of path.

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

Strongly forced, organized convection ahead of a vigorous upper trough and associated cold front advanced into a marginally unstable environment featuring strong winds and wind shear. A single, persistent supercell within the environment tracked across Candler and Bulloch Counties before producing a tornado in eastern Bulloch and western Effingham Counties.

A National Weather Service storm survey team confirmed a tornado that tracked from southeastern Bulloch County to southwest Effingham County in Georgia on 02/09/2017. The tornado tracked east-southeast approximately 9 miles southeast of Brooklet, GA to Pineora, GA. ||The tornado began near Stillson Leefield Road, in Bulloch County, GA. Most of the damage within the first few miles of the event was due to many snapped and uprooted trees. ||The most significant damage occurred near the center of the path, in an area just west of South Old River Road to near Terrell Road, in Bulloch County, GA. There were several mobile homes along this portion of the path that were either completely destroyed, or severely damaged. The extent of damage to the mobile homes was the reason for the high end EF2 rating with estimated maximum wind speeds up to 130 mph. Two mobile homes just north of Little Hagan Road were completely destroyed, being flipped and tossed 30 to 40 feet from their foundations. One of the mobile homes in this area was not occupied, but the other one had five people inside, plus pets. All five were injured, one seriously, with broken bones in their neck. Two pets in the same mobile home survived, but one died from its injuries. There was also a car pushed 20 to 30 feet and a large metal trucking container, weighing approximately 9,000 pounds, pushed about 50 feet. ||Continuing about 200 yards southeast along the path, a single family home sustained moderate damage, mainly from projectiles and debris hitting it from the mobile homes upstream. A large carport/overhang was completely torn from the home, which then |fell on and damaged 3 cars. A large hole was punched through the north wall of the home from debris hitting the window and pushing into the home. Otherwise, some minor shingle damage was observed, with 20-30% of the shingles missing.||Another 200 yards southeast of this home was another mobile home that was severely damaged. It was lifted and rolled 30 to 40 feet off of its foundation, crushing 2 cars before coming to rest on the edge of a bluff. There were 2 people severely injured in this home with one pet injured.||The tornado then continued across the Ogeechee River into Effingham County.

A National Weather Service storm survey team confirmed a tornado that tracked from southeastern Bulloch County to southwest Effingham County in Georgia on 02/09/2017. The tornado tracked east-southeast approximately 9 miles southeast of Brooklet, GA to Pineora, GA. The following information occurred once the tornado crossed into Effingham County from Bulloch County.||The tornado crossed the Ogeechee River from Bulloch County into Effingham County, where most damage was in the EF1 range. Hundreds of snapped pine and oak trees were observed along the path of the tornado. Some minor structural damage was found to a few homes just south of Rt 119, near Elkins Cemetery Road. This damage was due to large trees falling on the homes and carports. Finally, after nearly 10 miles of damage and destruction, the tornado lifted just east of Highway 17 in Pineora, GA.

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

1 minute of warning. NWS CHS issued a tornado warning for this county at 08:50 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 09:15 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 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.

Statesboro/Bulloch Co (TBR), 30 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 55 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 08:50 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 2017 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

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.