EF0 tornado, Air Line, Georgia, April 14, 2019

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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 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

EF0

Date

April 14, 2019

Touchdown

8:53 PM EDT (00:53 UTC)

Lifted

8:58 PM EDT (00:58 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

2.9 miles (4.6 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$50,000

County

Hart County

Touchdown point

34.327, -83.040

Lift-off point

34.346, -82.995

Record number

1904141853-01

18 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS GSP, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 96 mph.

• shingle uplift in opposite direction
• back wall of house bowed out
• utility trailer thrown about 100yards
• metal rack ripped off roof of car, bolts ripped out. other vehicles undamaged

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

Numerous showers along with strong to severe thunderstorms developed across north Georgia in advance of a strong frontal system throughout the 14th. One cluster of storms produced isolated damaging winds in Franklin County during the early afternoon. A second line of storms produced more significant wind damage as well as an isolated weak tornado during the evening.

NWS storm survey found a tornado damage path that began along Airline-Goldmine Rd. near the intersection with W M Price Rd. A large tree was uprooted and fell onto a home at this location. Another nearby home sustained shingle loss and the collapse of a small cinderblock wall. The shingles were lofted in a direction opposite of the uprooting of an adjacent large tree. The tornado track continued northeast across Bethany-Bowersville Rd. near the intersection with Kesler Rd. to Bert Moorhead Rd, where a barn sustained major loss of roof panels and a partial collapse of one wall. Additionally, a large tree with a diameter greater than 24 inches was uprooted and other large trees were also uprooted or sustained snapped branches. The track continued northeast through open fields and woodlands before another the damage path was picked up again along Jud Cole Rd. just north of Elgin Ln, where several trees were snapped or uprooted. A metal road sign was also snapped at its base. Free-standing carports were lofted and the roof rack of a SUV was detached from the vehicle and lofted several hundred feet. A metal barn sustained significant roof and wall damage while an adjacent home suffered damage to a single wall, which had bowed outward approximately 6-12 inches from its original position. The bowing was attributed to rapid pressure changes associated with the adjacent tornado. The tornado lifted and dissipated just east of Jud Cole Rd.

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

18 minutes of warning. NWS GSP issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:35 UTC, 18 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 23:57 UTC and running to 02:00 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:29 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.

Canon (18A), 10 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Greer radar (KGSP), 95 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:54 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 2019 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

33 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.