EF1 tornado, Oconee to Davisboro, Georgia, March 3, 2019

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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF1

Date

March 3, 2019

Touchdown

4:36 PM EST (21:36 UTC)

Lifted

4:38 PM EST (21:38 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.4 miles (2.3 km)

Path width

290 yards (265 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$35,000

County

Washington County

Touchdown point

32.864, -82.850

Lift-off point

32.869, -82.826

Record number

1903031536-01

A powerful storm system moved across the mid-south and southeast United States producing widespread severe weather and numerous tornadoes. In middle Georgia, significant damage from fourteen separate tornadoes was observed. Thousands of trees were snapped or uprooted and numerous homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed. Across central Georgia, incredibly, no deaths were reported, with only around a dozen minor injuries.

A National Weather Service survey found that an EF1 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 90 mph and a maximum path width of 200 yards occurred in Washington County. The tornado touched down in the small community of Oconee in Washington County near the confluence of Oconee Road and Kaolin Lane. The tornado moved east along Kaolin Road, downing and snapping a number of trees. Shingles were removed from the roof of a home on Kaolin Road where a shed was toppled and heavily damaged. A large tree fell onto a home near the intersection of Kaolin Road and Highway 272. Several trees were snapped or uprooted as the tornado continued east across Highway 272, dissipating just east of the highway. No injuries were reported. [03/03/19: Tornado #10, County #1/1, EF1, Washington, 2019:015].

A National Weather Service survey found that an EF1 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 105 mph and a maximum path width of 290 yards occurred in Washington County. The tornado touched down south of Tennille near the intersection of Highway 68 and Hazard Road where a large number of trees were snapped or uprooted. The tornado moved east northeast along Old Savannah Road, snapping and downing numerous additional trees before dissipating. No injuries were reported. [03/03/19: Tornado #11, County #1/1, EF1, Washington, 2019:016].

A National Weather Service survey found that an EF1 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 95 mph and a maximum path width of 85 yards touched down east of Harrison Davisboro Road along Heards Bridge Road in eastern Washington County. The short-lived tornado crossed Heards Bridge Road damaging a farm outbuilding. An older, reinforced concrete silo collapsed bringing down power lines and leaving concrete debris scattered across a field. No injuries were reported. [03/03/19: Tornado #13, County #1/1, EF1, Washington, 2019:018].

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

22 minutes of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:14 UTC, 22 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:28 UTC and running to 23:28 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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 2019 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

44 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.