Tornadoes · United States · Georgia · 2019

EF0 tornado, Silco, Georgia, April 19, 2019

This EF0 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Camden County on April 19, 2019, touching down at 12:05 PM EDT and reaching 10 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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
April 19, 2019
Touchdown
12:05 PM EDT (16:05 UTC)
Lifted
12:06 PM EDT (16:06 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.4 miles (0.7 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Camden County
Touchdown point
30.837, -81.893
Lift-off point
30.837, -81.886
Record number
1904191005-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A very strong pre-frontal squall line raced across the local area which caused widespread winds damage. The environment had high bulk shear, elevated low level instability that nosed inland along a theta-E ridge axis from the GOMEX, a strong SSW low level jet, overridden by a strong mid level lobe of PVA.

A tornado touched down near Georgia Highway 40 West in Camden county. The tornado snapped several pine trees along its path as it moved ENE toward Georgia Highway 110.

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

The warnings

16 minutes of warning. NWS JAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 15:49 UTC, 16 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 16:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 14:15 UTC and running to 18:55 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
13:00 UTC00:00 UTCWind AdvisoryJAX
14:15 UTC18:55 UTCTornado WatchJAX
15:33 UTC16:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAX
15:49 UTC16:15 UTCTornado WarningJAX
16:10 UTC16:39 UTCTornado WarningJAX
16:26 UTC16:58 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAX

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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:53 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.

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), 12:00Z

4.1 hours before the tornado, 42 km from the path. April 19, 2019.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jacksonville, FL at 12:00Z on 2019-04-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 822 joules per kilogram, CIN -22, lifted condensation level 632 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Jacksonville, FL at 12:00Z on 2019-04-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 303 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 51 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
822 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-22 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1378 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
632 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
303 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
279 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.3
Supercell composite
7.3
0-3 km lapse rate
5.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), 00:00Z

7.9 hours after it, 42 km from the path. April 20, 2019.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jacksonville, FL at 00:00Z on 2019-04-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -74569, lifted condensation level 1067 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Jacksonville, FL at 00:00Z on 2019-04-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -89 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 79 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-74569 J/kg
Surface CAPE
9 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1067 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
79 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-89 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
108 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Jacksonville Intl (JAX), 43 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
14:05 UTC170° 19 kt1006.8
14:10 UTC170° 19 kt1006.4
14:15 UTC170° 19 kt1006.4
14:20 UTC170° 20 kt1006.4
14:25 UTC170° 14 kt1006.4
14:30 UTC170° 17 kt1006.1
14:35 UTC180° 21 kt1006.1
14:40 UTC170° 21 kt1006.1
14:45 UTC180° 18 kt1005.8
14:50 UTC170° 19 kt1005.8
14:55 UTC170° 15 kt1005.8
14:56 UTC8070170° 19 kt331005.8
15:00 UTC170° 23 kt1005.4
15:05 UTC180° 21 kt1005.4
15:10 UTC170° 17 kt1005.4
15:15 UTC180° 16 kt1005.8
15:20 UTC170° 20 kt1005.8
15:25 UTC170° 22 kt1005.8
15:30 UTC170° 19 kt1006.1
15:35 UTC180° 17 kt1005.8
15:40 UTC180° 19 kt1005.8
15:43 UTC8171180° 17 kt1005.8
15:45 UTC180° 18 kt1005.8
15:50 UTC170° 20 kt1005.8
15:55 UTC 17 kt1005.8
15:56 UTC8270190° 17 kt251005.4
16:00 UTC 17 kt1005.4
16:05 UTC 17 kt1005.8
16:10 UTC7866240° 31 kt451007.8+TSRA
16:15 UTC230° 23 kt1008.1+RA
16:17 UTC6963230° 21 kt451008.1+TSRA
16:20 UTC230° 26 kt1008.1RA
16:25 UTC 20 kt1007.8+RA
16:30 UTC 20 kt1007.1+RA
16:35 UTC210° 17 kt1006.8+RA
16:38 UTC6663210° 16 kt271007.1TSRA
16:40 UTC210° 16 kt1006.8RA
16:45 UTC200° 17 kt1006.8RA
16:50 UTC200° 15 kt1006.8-RA
16:55 UTC200° 15 kt1006.8RA
16:56 UTC6663190° 15 kt1006.4TSRA
17:00 UTC190° 17 kt1006.4RA
17:05 UTC200° 14 kt1006.4RA
17:10 UTC190° 16 kt1006.4-RA
17:15 UTC200° 16 kt1006.4-RA
17:20 UTC200° 18 kt1005.8-RA
17:25 UTC210° 15 kt1005.8-RA
17:30 UTC200° 14 kt1005.8-RA
17:35 UTC200° 15 kt1005.8-RA
17:40 UTC200° 13 kt181005.8RA
17:45 UTC190° 13 kt1005.8-RA
17:50 UTC190° 11 kt1005.8RA
17:55 UTC190° 14 kt1005.8RA
17:56 UTC6764190° 15 kt201005.8TSRA
18:00 UTC190° 13 kt1005.8RA

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

The radar

The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 43 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:04 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
15:10 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 W Stephen Foster StatCharlton, GAFORMER METEOROLOGIST IN CHARGE AT WEATHER FORECAST OFFICE MELBOURNE, FL REPORTED LARGE PINE TREES DOWNED IN STEPHEN FOSTER STATE PARK. TIME OF DAMAGE BASED ON RADAR DATA.
15:10 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Ssw WaycrossWare, GA*** 1 INJ *** MOBILE HOME ROLLED OVER AND BROKE APART WHEN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CROSSED THROUGH WAYCROSS. THREE CARS WERE ALSO OVERTURNED AT THE LOCATION. 1 PERSON WAS INJURED IN THE MOBILE HOME.
15:18 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Wsw HobokenBrantley, GAPUBLIC SUBMITTED A REPORT OF A TREE DOWN ON POWER LINES ALONG PIERCE CHAPEL RD NEAR HIGHBLUFF RD. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
15:20 UTCTSTM WND DMGHobokenBrantley, GABRANTLEY COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORTS 3-4 TREES DOWNED ALONG HIGHWAY 520 IN THE VICINITY OF HOBOKEN. TIME OF DAMAGE BASED ON RADAR DATA.
15:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 E FolkstonCharlton, GABROADCAST MEDIA PASSED ALONG A REPORT OF A TREE SNAPPED IN HALF IN FOLKSTON NEAR GEORGIA HIGHWAY 40 AND CAMP PINCKNEY ROAD. TIME IS ESTIMATED BASED ON RADAR IMAGERY.
15:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG6 Nne RaybonBrantley, GAPUBLIC REPORTED A TREE DOWN ON AUTHRO SLOAN RD. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
16:02 UTCTORNADO5 Nw Kings FerryCamden, GAUNCONFIRMED TORNADO. SPOTTER REPORTED A RAIN WRAPPED TORNADO ON GA 40 WEST OF HIGHWAY 110.
16:06 UTCTORNADO5 Nw Kings FerryCamden, GAA EF-0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN NEAR GEORGIA HIGHWAY 40W IN CAMDEN COUNTY GEORGIA SNAPPING SEVERAL PINE TREES ALONG ITS CONFINED PATH AS IT MOVED WEST-SOUTHWEST TOWARD GEORGIA HIGHWAY 110.
16:06 UTCTORNADO5 Nw KingslandCamden, GACORRECTED LOCATION UNCONFIRMED TORNADO. SPOTTER REPORTED A RAIN WRAPPED TORNADO ON GA 40 WEST OF HIGHWAY 110.
16:14 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Ese KingslandCamden, GANWS EMPLOYEE OBSERVED STRUCTURE DAMAGE TO A FURNITURE STORE ON COMMERCE DR NEAR E KINGS AVE. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
16:15 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Ese KingslandCamden, GASOCIAL MEDIA PHOTO OF SIGNIFICANT STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO A BABCOCK FURNITURE STORE IN KINGSLAND. TIME OF DAMAGE BASED ON RADAR DATA.
16:33 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Ene BrunswickGlynn, GASOCIAL MEDIA PHOTO OF A SEMI TRACTOR TRAILER FLIPPED ON ITS SIDE ALONG THE TORRAS CAUSEWAY. TIME OF EVENT BASED ON RADAR DATA.
16:38 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Ne BrunswickGlynn, GASPOTTER RELAYED A REPORT OF A SEMI TRUCK FLIPPED ON ITS SIDE WITH PHOTOS FROM SOCIAL MEDIA ALONG THE TORRES CAUSEWAY. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
16:39 UTCTSTM WND GST 525 E BrunswickGlynn, GASAINT SIMONS ISLAND AIRPORT MEASURED A 52 MPH WIND GUST.
17:19 UTCTSTM WND GST 532 Ssw High PointCamden, GATHE REMOTE AUTOMATED WEATHER STATION AT THE STAFFORD SITE ON CUMBERLAND ISLAND MEASURED A PEAK WIND GUST OF 53 MPH.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2019 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 19, 2019

44 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 195:07 AM EDTEF0Fulton, GA0.6150$40,000
April 195:50 AM EDTEF1Hall, GA2.4300$75,000
April 198:26 AM EDTEF0Liberty, FL18.1150
April 1910:25 AM EDTEF3Franklin, VA8.1250$650,000
April 1910:27 AM EDTEF0McDowell, NC0.450$5,000
April 1911:22 AM EDTEF1Bedford, VA2.260$75,000
April 1911:25 AM EDTEF1Laurens, GA4.5200$75,000
April 191:48 PM EDTEF2Orangeburg, SC10.6300
April 192:01 PM EDTEF1Orangeburg, SC7.8400
April 192:07 PM EDTEF1Newberry, SC1.9200
April 192:08 PM EDTEF0Newberry, SC0.325
April 192:29 PM EDTEF2Clarendon, SC2.9250
April 193:00 PM EDTEF0Williamsburg, SC0.315
April 193:00 PM EDTEF0Florence, SC0.630$50,000
April 193:11 PM EDTEF1Moore, NC1.6300$200,000
April 193:29 PM EDTEF0Lincoln, NC7.11001$10,000
April 193:35 PM EDTEF1Chatham, NC1.9150$100,000
April 194:00 PM EDTEF2Orange, NC10.1600$2.0 million
April 194:10 PM EDTEF0Alexander, NC0.575$5,000
April 195:01 PM EDTEF1Sampson, NC10.2125$1.1 million
April 195:31 PM EDTEF1Nelson, VA1.5125
April 196:08 PM EDTEF1Nash, NC11.7350$700,000
April 196:16 PM EDTEF1Edgecombe, NC10.675$50,000
April 196:34 PM EDTEF1Halifax, NC to VA16.0100$78,000
April 196:39 PM EDTEF0Northampton, NC1.550$10,000
April 196:44 PM EDTEF0Northampton, NC9.8100$25,000
April 196:48 PM EDTEF0Greensville, VA6.350$5,000
April 196:50 PM EDTEF0Brunswick, VA0.6200$10,000
April 196:51 PM EDTEF1Greensville, VA8.6100$20,000
April 196:56 PM EDTEF0City of Emporia, VA4.4100$100,000
April 197:06 PM EDTEF1Fulton, PA1.575$25,000
April 197:10 PM EDTEF2Franklin, PA2.975$100,000
April 197:18 PM EDTEF0Sussex, VA17.7100$15,000
April 197:28 PM EDTEF1Huntingdon, PA5.4350$100,000
April 197:31 PM EDTEF1Prince George, VA8.3200$30,000
April 197:39 PM EDTEF1Juniata, PA1.3350$25,000
April 197:46 PM EDTEF2Charles City, VA3.1200$125,000
April 197:56 PM EDTEF0Isle of Wight, VA2.9100$15,000
April 197:57 PM EDTEF2Mifflin, PA4.9200$500,000
April 198:05 PM EDTEF0York, VA1.8150$150,000
April 198:06 PM EDTEF2Louisa, VA2.0300$200,000
April 198:07 PM EDTEF0City of Newport News, VA1.8100$50,000
April 198:20 PM EDTEF0Gloucester, VA1.4100$25,000
April 198:55 PM EDTEF0Fairfax, VA4.1100

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.