EF1 tornado, Campbellton to Adamsville, Georgia, May 3, 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

May 3, 2021

Touchdown

10:22 AM EDT (14:22 UTC)

Lifted

10:34 AM EDT (14:34 UTC)

On the ground

12 minutes

Path length

5.7 miles (9.2 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$250,000

County

Fulton County

Touchdown point

33.697, -84.621

Lift-off point

33.734, -84.531

Record number

2105030822-01

69 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 110 mph.

• Part of roof pulled back across Fulton Industrial blvd.
• Roof thrown back toward SW across Fulton Industrial Blvd
• Estimated "start point" for Fulton County Tornado (May 3, 2021)
• Estimated "END" point for Fulton County Tornado (May 3, 2021)

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

A series of upper-level short waves moved across the region in persistent, southwesterly upper-level flow combined with moderate instability and shear to produce several rounds of strong to severe thunderstorms across north and central Georgia. Some of these storms dumped 2 to 4 inches of rain over the area, resulting in isolated flash flooding.

A National Weather Service survey determined that an EF1 tornado with maximum winds of 110 MPH and a maximum path width of 400 yards touched down over an industrial area in southwest Fulton County along Fannie Road, just east of the Chattahoochee River. The tornado moved northeast to the area along Westgate Parkway SW and Tradewater Parkway SW, near Fulton Industrial Boulevard SW. In this area, several large warehouses had portions of their roof coverings pulled off. One building had a small part of the northwest facing metal wall blown down. At another warehouse, constructed primarily of brick and sheet metal, the southwest facing wall collapsed with a large portion of its roof ripped off. The tornado crossed Fulton Industrial Boulevard SW near Tradewater Parkway SW and Riverside Road SW, with roof and siding damage to three large warehouses. The tornado continued northeast, moving into more residential areas on either side of Camp Creek Parkway SW. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted along Plummer Road SW and Reynolds Road SW. Along Boat Rock|Road SW near Binford Place SW, numerous large trees were snapped or uprooted and several houses had trees fall on them. Continuing northeast toward New Hope Road SW, the tornado snapped or uprooted more trees within the Guilford Forest Estates neighborhood and several homes sustained roof and siding damage, again mainly due to falling trees. The tornado weakened as it approached Cascade Road SW and New Hope Road SW, ending north of Cascade Road SW near Burton Trace. [5/3/21: Tornado #2, County #1/1, EF-1, Fulton, 2021:010].

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

1 minute of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 14:21 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 14:45 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:50 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.

Atlanta/Fulton Co. (FTY), 9 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Atlanta radar (KFFC), 39 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 14:18 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

30 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.