EF0 tornado, Allentown to Lowery, Georgia, April 6, 2022

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

April 6, 2022

Touchdown

7:45 PM EDT (23:45 UTC)

Lifted

7:49 PM EDT (23:49 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

3.6 miles (5.8 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Bleckley, Twiggs and Laurens counties

Touchdown point

32.575, -83.244

Lift-off point

32.555, -83.187

Record number

2204061745-01

1 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 80 mph.

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

A multi-day severe weather outbreak initiated with a warm moist air mass situated over Georgia as a strengthening upper level system pushed across central Georgia. With moderate instability in place with increased shear, combined to create numerous severe thunderstorms, taking the form of a quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) with several strong supercells ahead of the front. The resulting front stalled across central Georgia and interacted with a weaker shortwave moving up from the Gulf of Mexico, serving as a catalyst for another day of severe weather and flash flooding on April 6th.

A QLCS EF0 tornado quickly developed along a line of storms the evening of Wednesday April 6, 2022. The tornado developed near the Twiggs/Bleckley County line along I-16 where several trees were snapped and uprooted. [4/6/22: Tornado #2, County #1/3, EF-0, Twiggs/Bleckley/Laurens, 2022:022].

Continuation from Twiggs County -- The tornado path closely followed I-16 Southeastward where trees were snapped or uprooted often on one side of interstate or the other. Radar data confirms the path and storm direction was to the ESE aligning with damage found on the ground along the interstate. The tornado continued for over 3 miles along the interstate snapping or uprooting trees across GA Hwy 112, Eason Hill Church Rd in Laurens County before weakening and lifting as it approached GA HWY 278 southwest of the town of Montrose. Most of the damage was confined to the area between mile markers 32 to 35 along I-16. [4/6/22: Tornado #2, County #2/3, EF-0, Twiggs/Bleckley/Laurens, 2022:022].

Continuation from Bleckley County -- The tornado path closely followed I-16 Southeastward where trees were snapped or uprooted often on one side of interstate or the other. Radar data confirms the path and storm direction was to the ESE aligning with damage found on the ground along the interstate. The tornado continued for over 3 miles along the interstate snapping or uprooting trees across GA Hwy 112, Eason Hill Church Rd in Laurens County before weakening and lifting as it approached GA HWY 278 southwest of the town of Montrose. Most of the damage was confined to the area between mile markers 32 to 35 along I-16. [4/6/22: Tornado #2, County #3/3, EF-0, Twiggs/Bleckley/Laurens, 2022:022].

A QLCS EF1 tornado formed along Rebie Road in southern Laurens |County moving ESE through a heavily wooded region snapping and |uprooting trees before reaching Lord Road. 2 large grain bins were|dented, numerous trees were snapped or uprooted, a home sustained|roof damage and a small shed was destroyed. The tornado was at |its maximum intensity in this area before moving into a heavily |wooded area. The tornado crossed Chicken Road and Hwy 338 snapping|a few trees before lifting east of Hwy 338 in a wooded area. [4/6/22: Tornado #3, County #1/1, EF-1, Laurens, 2022:023].

Continuation from Dodge County -- The tornado continued ESE crossing Hwy 338 and reached peak intensity along Hwy 117 just to the NE of the Cadwell Community where numerous trees were uprooted and some damage to a home occurred due to falling trees. A porch cover was destroyed on a home along Moorman Ln. Damage became more intermittent as it continued east crossing Coleman Farm Rd, Hwy 441, S. Poplar Church Springs Road. Trees were also snapped and uprooted along Scotland Road and St. Mark Road before the tornado lifted in a wooded area east of St. Mark Road. [4/6/22: Tornado #4, County #2/2, EF-1, Dodge/Laurens, 2022:024].

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 tornado watch, issued at 17:32 UTC and running to 01:10 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. The outlook in force was issued at 19:56 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.

Cochran (48A), 19 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), 18 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:46 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 2022 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

12 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.