EF3 tornado, Collier to Brighton Mills, Georgia, April 13, 2020

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

April 13, 2020

Touchdown

2:40 AM EDT (06:40 UTC)

Lifted

2:47 AM EDT (06:47 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

5.3 miles (8.5 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$10 million

County

Monroe County

Touchdown point

33.030, -84.033

Lift-off point

33.073, -83.958

Record number

2004130040-01

3 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FFC, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 140 mph.

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

A powerful Spring storm system resulted in a Severe Weather / Tornado outbreak across much of the Southeast region, including north and central Georgia, beginning on Easter Sunday (April 12th) and lingering into the morning hours of April 13th. From the Storm Prediction Center (Day 1) convective outlook, just about the entire area was under an ENHANCED risk for severe weather with a MODERATE risk extending from the ArkLaMiss into western Georgia.||In addition, enhanced rainfall occurred over far north Georgia and in portions of central Georgia, with rainfall amounts ranging from 3 to 8 inches through the event. Significant flooding was in portions of the area with numerous reports of washouts and several reports of rescues.

This tornado is a regeneration from the same storm which caused the Upson County EF-3 tornado to the southwest. This tornado first touched down along Potts Cemetery Road downing a few trees continuing NE crossing Hwy 41 and Ingram Rd snapping and|uprooting a few trees. This portion of the track was rated EF-0. The tornado intensified quickly NE of Hwy 41 into an EF-3 as it approached Goodwyne/Collier Rd. A large 100'x150' metal building and small home were completely destroyed. The metal frame and 3'x3'x3' concrete footers for the building were all pulled from the ground with the building and twisted amongst the wreckage leaving holes in the ground around the concrete slab. Several cars were flipped and thrown including a jeep which was thrown onto the small home which sat next to the metal building. The homeowner was inside his home in the bathroom sheltering and survived under the a large pile of debris from both the house and building. Rescue operations took 45 minutes to get to the homeowner under the debris. A small plane was destroyed, a mid-size tractor was |flipped over and a boat was thrown from the tornado at this location. High end EF1/EF2 Tree damage occurred in the area to the surrounding and to the NE of the building. As the Tornado continued NE along Collier Rd, numerous trees were snapped and |uprooted including a large tree onto a home near Collier and Smith Rd. The tornado crossed Interstate 75 near mile marker 188 throwing numerous trees onto the highway shutting it down for a period of time until they were cleared. By this point, the tornado|intensity decreased to EF0/EF1 and continued NE crossing English Rd downing trees and eventually Hwy 42 before weakening. NWS Radar imagery suggests debris was lofted to as high as 19,000 FT from this particular tornado. [04/13/20: Tornado #13, County #1/1, EF-3, Monroe, 2020:019].

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

20 minutes of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 06:20 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 03:45 UTC and running to 08:10 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.

The Atlanta radar (KFFC), 63 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:38 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 2020 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

67 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 68 of them

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.