EF0 tornado, Chestatee to Halfway, Georgia, May 4, 2021

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

May 4, 2021

Touchdown

1:21 PM EDT (17:21 UTC)

Lifted

1:32 PM EDT (17:32 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

4.7 miles (7.6 km)

Path width

350 yards (320 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$150,000

County

Lumpkin County

Touchdown point

34.480, -83.962

Lift-off point

34.478, -83.880

Record number

2105041121-01

5 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FFC, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 76 mph.

• Estimated start point (and time)
• Broken wooden power pole snapped onto house off Old Cornelia Hwy

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 found that an EF0 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 85 MPH and a maximum path width of 350 yards touched down just northwest of the intersection of Long Branch Road and Robinson Road, snapping several trees. The tornado moved east snapping and uprooting additional large pine trees along Red Oak Flats Road then tracked over mainly rural terrain for about a mile before causing additional damage along Pony Lake Road near Old Leathers Ford Road. More concentrated tree damage was then seen along Meeks Road and Old Dahlonega Highway where a number of larger trees were snapped or uprooted around several residences. Between Meeks Road and Pecks Road, the tornado reached its maximum intensity with wind speeds of 85 MPH. Just off Pecks Road near Brewer Drive, numerous medium to large trees were uprooted. As Pecks Road turns into Parks Road, additional trees were snapped or uprooted around a residence. The tornado ended just west of Claude Parks Road. [5/4/21: Tornado #6, County #1/1, EF-0, Lumpkin, 2021:014].

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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 14:48 UTC and running to 19:54 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:29 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.

Gainsville (GVL), 25 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Atlanta radar (KFFC), 138 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:23 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

38 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.