EF3 tornado, Pretoria to Abbeville, Georgia, January 22, 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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

January 22, 2017

Touchdown

3:15 PM EST (20:15 UTC)

Lifted

4:27 PM EST (21:27 UTC)

On the ground

72 minutes

Path length

70.4 miles (113.3 km)

Path width

2,200 yards (2012 m)

Deaths

5

Injuries

88

Property damage

$310 million

Counties

Dougherty, Worth, Turner and Wilcox counties

Touchdown point

31.437, -84.345

Lift-off point

31.992, -83.347

Record number

1701221415-01

350 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FFC and NWS TAE, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 150 mph.

• solid granite sign toppled
• several hundred trees both hard and soft snapped
• possible west edge of path
• thousands of trees snapped.

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

A multi-day severe weather event struck the southeast January 21-22, 2017 with three rounds of severe weather moving through the area. The first round of severe weather started during the mid-morning hours on Saturday, January 21, 2017 as a squall line pushed into southeast Alabama and the Florida panhandle. As it pushed eastward nine warnings were issued with a total of 18 damaging wind reports (trees and power lines downed) related to these storms. ||After a brief lull during Saturday evening as the aforementioned squall line washed out near the Gulf Coast, strong southerly flow returned late Saturday night as a warm front pushed northward across the Florida Big Bend and southern Georgia. Initially with this late Saturday night to early Sunday morning event, a strong supercell moved across southern Georgia producing a tornado that moved across Thomas and northern Brooks Counties. This was the first tornado across the area with this multi- day event. From the same supercell that produced the tornado in Thomas and northern Brooks Counties, another tornado developed that tracked across Brooks, Berrien and Cook Counties and this tornado resulted in 11 fatalities. This overnight into early Sunday morning event produced one more tornado, an EF-1 that struck Lowndes County. ||A final round of severe weather moved through Sunday afternoon as a warm front continued to push northward into southeast Alabama and southern Georgia while the main low and trailing cold front pushed eastward across the Florida panhandle and offshore regions. This afternoon round of supercells first produced a tornado in Henry County, AL. An hour and a half after the Henry County tornado, two more tornadoes developed, an EF-2 that struck Clay, Randolph and Calhoun Counties (Georgia) and an EF-1 tornado that hit Franklin County, FL. After this, a long tracked tornado (track length of more than 70 miles) moved across Albany (Dougherty County) and into Worth and Turner Counties, causing extensive damage and five fatalities. ||Overall this multi-day event resulted in seven tornadoes, 16 deaths and numerous injuries. Three days of damage surveys were conducted to rate the tornadoes on the Enhanced Fujita scale.

Throughout the weekend of the 21st and 22nd, persistent southwesterly upper-level flow brought a series of strong short waves across the region. The atmosphere over central Georgia was unseasonably warm and unstable with strong low and mid-level shear. The first short wave generated a wave of severe thunderstorms across central and south Georgia through the morning and into the afternoon of the 21st that produced numerous tornadoes. Twenty three tornadoes were confirmed in the WFO Peachtree City warning area with 27 total tornadoes confirmed in the state of Georgia, both records for the number of tornadoes in a single day. A second, stronger short wave swept through during the late morning and afternoon of the 22nd bringing another round of severe weather to central and south Georgia. Additional tornadoes confirmed brought the 2-day total to 27 for the WFO Peachtree City warning area and 41 for the state of Georgia, both a record number for a 2 day period.

A large, long-track tornado touched down near Dougherty/Baker Co. line and traveled over 70 miles across Dougherty, Worth, Turner, and Wilcox Counties in South Georgia. The tornado lifted just east of Abbeville. The tornado caused significant damage along the track, resulting in 5 fatalities in Albany. Severe tree damage was observed along the entire path which was up to 1.2 miles wide. In many spots, 90 to 100 percent of the trees in the path were uprooted or snapped. In Dougherty County, the tornado touched down on Tarva Road. By the time it reached Newton, the tornado was approximately 1.25 miles wide. There was extensive tree damage and some minor to moderate damage to a few homes in this area, consistent with EF2 damage. The tornado moved through the Radium Springs area, destroying nearly every tree in its path and causing EF2 damage to several houses. Most houses in this area had significant damage from falling trees. The tornado then moved through several mobile home parks just west of U.S. 319, destroying many mobile homes and causing the 4 fatalities. Damage consistent with an EF3 tornado was observed just east of U.S. 319. The tornado caused a large portion of a warehouse at the Proctor and Gamble Plant to collapse and tossed several semi-trailers across Mock Road. Additional EF3 damage was observed at the Marine Corp Logistics Base, where multiple anchored double-wide trailers were completely destroyed. In addition, several concrete light poles were snapped near the base, and a large solid concrete building had its solid concrete roof shifted more than 2 inches. A well-built concrete block church on Sylvester Rd was demolished with only parts of a few walls remaining. The estimated wind speed at this point is 150 mph, the highest analyzed along the track. EF3 damage was also observed on Harris Road where a cement block church was destroyed. Damage estimates exceeded $300 million according to a media article citing the Dougherty County Commissioner.

The EF3 tornado from Dougherty county continued all the way across Worth county into Turner county as an EF3 tornado with max winds estimated near 150 mph. In Worth County, it caused extensive damage to homes along Jewel Crowe Road. This was consistent with EF3 damage. Damage to homes and outbuildings consistent with EF2 damage was observed along Camp Osborn Road. A concrete block church on Zion Church Road was completely destroyed, justifying an EF3 rating at that point. Damage cost was estimated.

This is a continuation of the EF3 tornado from Worth and Dougherty counties. The tornado entered Turner County along and north of Son Story Road with max winds estimated around 150 mph. Damage to a frame home along Ireland road was consistent with EF3 damage. Additional EF2 damage was found along this road. There was also some evidence for multiple vortices near the intersection of Ireland Road and U.S. 41. Additional EF3 damage was observed on King Burgess Circle where a large frame house was severely damaged and multiple mobile homes were destroyed. The tornado continued northeast across Interstate 75 causing EF2 damage to several frame homes and mobile homes. Tree damage diminished as the tornado approach the Wilcox county line, suggesting that the tornado temporarily weakened. The Turner county emergency manager said up to 25 people were injured in Turner county. Damage cost was estimated.

A National Weather Service survey team found that the large tornado that moved across Dougherty and Turner Counties moved into Wilcox County crossing County Line Road just west of Shady Lane. Damage was seen off Double Run Road and County Road 41 where a small farm building was completely destroyed. Windows were broken at two residences and several small trees were uprooted. Just northeast, significant damage occurred along Crawford Dairy Road between July Road and Loblolly Road. A metal structure was significantly damaged with the several anchored metal trusses completely pulled off the concrete foundation, resulting in a total collapse of the building. Additional farm outbuildings and barns around the property were severely damaged, and hundreds of pines were snapped or uprooted. Farther along Crawford Dairy Road, just before SR 233, several large, wooden, electrical transmission towers were snapped (near the base) or leaning. The width of the tornado around this location is estimated to be at least one half mile. Along American Legion Road, between Bayberry Lane and Elderberry Lane, a large semi-trailer was flattened and moved across a road. The southeast corner of a metal structure was completely destroyed with deep concrete footings ripped out of the ground. Numerous large trees were snapped as well around this location and a small home nearby sustained minor roof and siding damage. Further northeast along Willingham road, trees were snapped or uprooted. As the tornado went over Mount Olive Road, just south of Highway 280, several manufactured homes were completely destroyed with debris moved 50 to 100 yards away from the original foundations. Based on this damage, the tornado is believed to have briefly strengthened to around 135 MPH. A large house just up the hill from this location sustained minor roof damage. The tornado crossed Highway 280 leveling numerous trees and destroying several small wooden sheds and barns. From this point on, the tornado weakened considerably, with only some trees snapped or uprooted along Kingfisher Road, just west of Abbeville where the damage ended. [01/22/17: Tornado #2, County #2/2, EF2, Crisp-Wilcox, 2017:026].

The deaths

5 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

0 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:15 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:47 UTC and running to 21:02 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 High Risk, with a 0.30 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:56 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.

Cordele (CKF), 31 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Robins AFB radar (KJGX), 116 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:12 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

20 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.