EF0 tornado, Folsom to Bowls, Georgia, February 6, 2020

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

February 6, 2020

Touchdown

5:28 AM EST (10:28 UTC)

Lifted

5:30 AM EST (10:30 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

2.2 miles (3.6 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$60,000

Counties

Gordon and Bartow counties

Touchdown point

34.395, -84.863

Lift-off point

34.405, -84.826

Record number

2002060428-01

A line of thunderstorms ahead of a strong cold front moved into northwest Georgia in the pre-dawn hours and swept across north and central Georgia through the morning into the afternoon producing numerous reports of damaging thunderstorm winds and an isolated tornado. Storms along the front also produced heavy rainfall, ranging from 1.5 to 4 inches, with higher amounts up to 6 inches, particularly over north Georgia. These rainfall amounts produced flash flooding over north and central Georgia.

A National Weather Service survey team found that during the pre-dawn hours of February 6th, within a fast-moving line of strong to severe thunderstorms, a brief tornado with peak wind speeds of 85 mph and a maximum path width of 200 yards touched down in extreme northern Bartow County along County Line/Green Loop Road with a few trees snapped or uprooted. The tornado moved northeast quickly crossing into Gordon County just south of the intersection of Green Loop and Dempsey Loop Roads. [02/06/20: Tornado #1, County #1/2, EF-0, Bartow, 2020:006].

A National Weather Service survey team found that during the pre-dawn hours of February 6th, within a fast-moving line of strong to severe thunderstorms, a brief tornado with peak wind speeds of 85 mph and a maximum path width of 200 yards moved northeast out of extreme northern Bartow County into Gordon County just south of the intersection of Green Loop and Dempsey Loop Roads. The worst of the damage was confined to a small area along East Plainview Road SE where 10 to 12 large trees were uprooted and a manufactured home had its entire roof ripped off and was slightly moved off its foundation. Homes on either side of this location sustained some roof damage as well. The tornado turned east-northeast, hitting another home, lifting and damaging part of its front porch. A few small trees were snapped along Shope Lake Road SE before the tornado dissipated just east of this point. [02/06/20: Tornado #1, County #2/2, EF-0, Gordon, 2020:006].

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:27 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.

The Atlanta radar (KFFC), 118 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 10:25 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

14 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.