Tornadoes · United States · Georgia · 2021

EF0 tornado, Desser, Georgia, February 15, 2021

This EF0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Seminole County on February 15, 2021, touching down at 4:29 PM EST and reaching 50 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
February 15, 2021
Touchdown
4:29 PM EST (21:29 UTC)
Lifted
4:30 PM EST (21:30 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Seminole County
Touchdown point
30.890, -84.820
Lift-off point
30.894, -84.813
Record number
2102151529-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong cold front moved through the area during the afternoon hours of Feb 15th. The airmass ahead of the front was relatively unstable, and shear was very strong. The result was a round of strong to severe storms across the tri-state area with damaging winds and a few tornadoes, including a strong EF2 tornado in Early county, GA. A few days later, a round of heavy rainfall led to minor flooding in Tift County.

A brief dual-pol tornadic debris signature was observed from KTLH radar with trees also blown down in the area. This area is rural with no structural damage reported.

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

The warnings

1 minute of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:28 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:44 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:12 UTC and running to 22:02 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:12 UTC22:02 UTCTornado WatchTAE
21:01 UTC22:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTAE
21:03 UTC22:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTAE
21:28 UTC21:44 UTCTornado WarningTAE

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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. 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 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.

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 12:00Z

9.5 hours before the tornado, 74 km from the path. February 15, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2021-02-15Temperature 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 -70498, lifted condensation level 468 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2021-02-15The 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 252 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 61 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
-70498 J/kg
Surface CAPE
4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
468 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
61 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
252 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
303 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
2.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 00:00Z

2.5 hours after it, 74 km from the path. February 16, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2021-02-16Temperature 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 -459, lifted condensation level 590 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2021-02-16The 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 75 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 43 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
-459 J/kg
Surface CAPE
210 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
590 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
75 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
108 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Donalsonville (17J), 14 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
19:30 UTC6361.7140° 9 kt1008.1
19:50 UTC63.762.4160° 9 kt1008.1BR
20:10 UTC64.263160° 12 kt1007.1BR
20:30 UTC64.863.7160° 14 kt181006.4VCTSBR
20:50 UTC65.864.6170° 14 kt1005.8-TSRA BR
21:10 UTC68.267180° 20 kt241005.8+TSRA BR
21:30 UTC6967.6230° 15 kt261007.5-TSRA BR
21:50 UTC68.464230° 13 kt261008.1-VCTSRA BR
22:10 UTC66.762.8200° 15 kt211008.5-RA
22:30 UTC65.363210° 15 kt191008.8RA BR
22:50 UTC6562210° 14 kt191008.5-RA
23:10 UTC64.661.3220° 11 kt171008.8

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

The radar

The Tallahassee radar (KTLH), 72 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:26 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
21:25 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Wsw Harmony Church RdMiller, GATREES SNAPPED/UPROOTED DEBRIS FLYING ACROSS THE HIGHWAY AFTER VERY STRONG WINDS AND VERY HEAVY RAIN STALLED CARS FOR ATLEAST 10 MINUTES ON 27. TREES DOWN ON SIDE OF HIGHWAY AS WELL.
21:29 UTCTORNADO3 E DesserSeminole, GATREES WERE REPORTED DOWN IN SEMINOLE COUNTY WITH A BRIEF TDS VISIBLE FROM KTLH RADAR.
21:38 UTCTORNADO1 Ene DamascusEarly, GA*** 1 INJ *** REPORT FROM EMERGENCY MANAGER IN EARLY COUNTY OF SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO 1 DOUBLE WIDE MOBILE HOME AND 1 SINGLE FAMILY HOME NEAR DAMASCUS. 1 INJURY REPORTED. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
21:46 UTCTSTM WND GST 651 Nw Iveys MillBaker, GAAG STATION WITH UGA IN NORTHWEST BAKER COUNTY REPORTED A 65MPH WIND GUST.
21:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Ese BainbridgeDecatur, GATREE AND POWER LINES DOWN ON RUSS ST. THE TREE LANDED ON A TRUCK.
22:05 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 N VadaMitchell, GATREE DOWN ALONG DELLWOOD ROAD NEAR HIGHWAY 97.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of February 15, 2021

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 152:02 PM CSTEF0Bay, FL1.350$5,000
February 152:39 PM CSTEF0Washington, FL0.7100$25,000
February 154:17 PM ESTEF0Columbia, FL0.360
February 154:38 PM ESTEF2Early, GA1.86005$500,000
February 1511:34 PM ESTEF3Sunset Beach tornado, NC21.9275310

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.