EF1 tornado, Cass to Mc Callie, Georgia, March 25, 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

March 25, 2021

Touchdown

11:55 PM EDT (03:55 UTC)

Lifted

12:00 AM EDT (04:00 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

2.8 miles (4.4 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$400,000

County

Bartow County

Touchdown point

34.213, -84.833

Lift-off point

34.240, -84.797

Record number

2103252155-01

19 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 93 mph.

• LSR: Multiple trees reported down near the intersection of Grassdale Rd and Old Grassdale Rd (Law Enforement). *Possible Tornado*
• Multiple trees down with some roof damage (likely from trees)
• Multiple trees down along Ridgedale Road. Also, shingles blown off single-story roofs.

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

A very moist and moderately unstable airmass over the region combined with strong shear and persistent southwesterly mid and upper flow produced numerous showers and thunderstorms across north and parts of central Georgia through the day on the 25th into the morning of the 26th. Numerous reports of flooding were received with several reports of severe thunderstorms and a few isolated tornadoes. Rainfall amounts of 2.5 to 6 inches were common over north Georgia, with 6 to 8 inches observed over the higher elevations of northeast Georgia.

A National Weather Service survey found that an EF1 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 95 MPH and a maximum path width of 200 yards touched down as it crossed Highway 41 on the north side of Cartersville uprooting some pine trees and toppling a few onto power lines. The storm moved northeast crossing Oakridge Drive and uprooting trees onto homes. The tornado reached its maximum intensity as it crossed onto Greenacre Lane and Ridgedale Road where numerous trees were snapped or uprooted onto and around homes. Several homes also had shingles blown off or portions of their roof peeled back. The tornado continued to the northeast crossing Grassdale Road and moving along Old Grassdale Road where the windows and doors at a gas station were blown out and portions of a wall were blown down. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted onto or near homes in this area as well. The tornado struck a large metal warehouse peeling large portions of the metal roof and throwing the panels hundreds of yards to the northeast of the building. The tornado continued northeast crossing Peeples Valley Road snapping and uprooting trees on both sides of the road before moving into a largely wooded area and lifting before reaching I-75. [3/25/21: Tornado #3, County #1/1, EF-1, Bartow, 2021:008].

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:46 UTC and running to 04:54 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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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.

Cartersville Airport (VPC), 12 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Atlanta radar (KFFC), 99 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:54 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

19 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.