EF1 tornado, Americus, Georgia, August 16, 2021

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

August 16, 2021

Touchdown

1:25 AM EDT (05:25 UTC)

Lifted

1:27 AM EDT (05:27 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.2 miles (2.0 km)

Path width

325 yards (297 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$200,000

County

Sumter County

Touchdown point

32.078, -84.209

Lift-off point

32.093, -84.219

Record number

2108162325-01

49 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FFC, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 95 mph.

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

The remains of Tropical Storm Fred moved across central and north Georgia as a tropical depression during the overnight hours through the morning producing isolated reports of damaging winds in convective bands and several tornadoes. No reports of wind damage were received outside of the stronger convective bands. Rainfall amounts exceeded 4 inches in portions of northeast Georgia, with amounts of 6 to 8 inches observed in the northeast Georgia mountains.

A National Weather Service survey found that an EF1 tornado with maximum wind Speeds of 95 mph and a maximum path width of 325 yards touched down in a residential area on the northeast side of Americus. Damage began along Pineview Drive, just south of Fire Station #3, where a few smaller trees were snapped or uprooted and a few shingles were pulled off of a house. The tornado rapidly strengthened as it moved north northwest crossing Crawford Street (Highway 49) and moved along Wanda Way and Sharon Drive with numerous medium-sized trees either uprooted or snapped. As the tornado continued northwest, significant damage to trees occurred between Sharon Circle and Pine Avenue. In this area, several homes sustained damage, with several severely damaged by large falling trees. This is where maximum wind speeds were estimated at 95 MPH. Several additional trees were snapped or uprooted along Railroad Street before the tornado dissipated. In all, more than 40 residences sustained some visible damage. No injuries were reported. [8/17/21: Tornado #1, County #1/1, EF-1, Sumter, 2021:015].

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 00:55 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.

Americus (ACJ), 4 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Robins AFB radar (KJGX), 104 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:23 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 2021 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

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.