EF1 tornado, Kite to Blundale, Georgia, April 6, 2022

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

April 6, 2022

Touchdown

8:22 PM EDT (00:22 UTC)

Lifted

8:33 PM EDT (00:33 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

8.4 miles (13.5 km)

Path width

500 yards (457 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Johnson and Emanuel counties

Touchdown point

32.671, -82.573

Lift-off point

32.709, -82.436

Record number

2204061822-02

17 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 105 mph.

• no nails or anchor bolts observed with carport
• dozens of trees snapped from EM
• Unanchored small outbuilding
• several broken or leaning wood poles

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.

The same QLCS that produced the tornado east of Adrian also spawned another tornado at about the same time about 3.75 miles west of Kite. This tornado intensified quickly after it formed about 500 yards southwest of the intersection of Meeks Rd and|Midas Brantley Rd reaching 105 mph peak intensity as it moved east-northeast, ripping off the carport of a ranch-style brick home and tearing off 1/3rd of its roof. Several large trees and power poles were snapped near this intersection. A stop sign was|bent over. As the tornado traveled east-northeast it took a slight left turn into the southwest and south portion of the city of Kite causing significant damage to about 20-30 homes, mostly roofs. Numerous outbuildings were destroyed. Hundreds of trees|were snapped or uprooted. A baseball field sustained heavy damage to the concession building, fencing and stands. At the cemetery on the east part of the city, three 500 lb 8 by 4 foot granite monuments originally laying face down were lifted up by the|pressure forces induced by the winds and flipped over. [4/6/22: Tornado #5, County #1/2, EF-1, Johnson/Emanuel, 2022:025].

A fast-moving QLCS produced a long tracked tornado|starting just north of Adrian near Meeks Rd south of Ohopee Rd|downing trees and continued north of due-east nearly paralleling|a line just north of US80. Along Odomville Church Rd west of|US221, numerous trees were snapped, some falling on homes. The|tornado weakened some then intensified as it crossed Cow Ford|Bridge Rd snapping or uprooting 50-100 trees over a wide swath.|The tornado weakened as it traveled into rural areas north of and|near US80. Some trees were downed near Woodstock Rd and US80 and|again along Overstreet Rd just north of US80. The tornado|broadened and strengthened a bit as it entered Swainsboro (just|27 hours after another tornado went through this same area) east|and southeast of the Swainsboro Golf and Country Club near McLeod|Bridge Rd, Oaklawn Dr and Kite Rd, downing numerous trees and|power lines. Further east a home on Lucky St had roof damage from|a tree falling on it. The tornado traveled into the Lake Luck|area downing a power pole and a few trees near Fortune Loop Dr|and Prosperity Dr. A 24ft camper was destroyed by an uprooted|tree nearby on Prosperity Dr. Damage immediately east of this|area was much weaker and limited to a few tree limbs after which|the tornado lifted. [4/6/22: Tornado #6, County #1/1, EF-1, Emanuel, 2022:026].

Continuation from Johnson County -- The tornado continued east-northeast and destroyed two large open barns and other outbuildings on Jr Claxton Rd near the Johnson-Emanuel county line. After this point the tornado weakened and downed several trees as it crossed Price William Rd and eventually lifted just east of Pinetucky Rd. [4/6/22: Tornado #5, County #2/2, EF-0, Johnson/Emanuel, 2022:025].

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

0 minutes of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:22 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:32 UTC.

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.

Swainsboro (SBO), 15 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), 79 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:19 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.