Tornadoes · United States · Georgia · 2022

EF0 tornado, Statenville, Georgia, March 23, 2022

This EF0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Echols County on March 23, 2022, touching down at 2:53 PM EDT and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
March 23, 2022
Touchdown
2:53 PM EDT (18:53 UTC)
Lifted
2:54 PM EDT (18:54 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Echols County
Touchdown point
30.700, -83.064
Lift-off point
30.708, -83.062
Record number
2203231253-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Prefrontal showers and storms began to move into southeast Georgia Wednesday morning. A small intense mesoscale convective system ahead of the cold front moved slowly northeastward from the northeastern Gulf of Mexico into Suwannee Valley late morning into early afternoon. Just before 2 PM EST, an embedded thunderstorm in the convective system produced an EF0 tornado that passed through an area of homes near the intersection of HWY 135 south and Jean circle in Echols county. Multiple reports of roof damage and large tree branches down were observed.

At 1:53 PM EST, an EF0 tornado passed through an area of homes near the intersection of HWY 135 south and Jean circle in Echols county. Damage was reported from multiple sources from the Echols county sheriff department and emergency manager as well as the NWS Jacksonville storm survey. Between Walt road and Jean circle, multiple metal roofs were damaged, uplifted and blown away from sheds, a metal building system, and a couple of single wide mobile homes. Power lines were down along Walt road caused by metal roofing from a shed being blown into the primary lines. A street sign was also pulled from the ground near Jean circle. Multiple hardwood trees along the half mile path had large tree branches broken off.

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

The warnings

8 minutes of warning. NWS JAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:45 UTC, 8 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:02 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:45 UTC19:02 UTCTornado WarningJAX

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 forecast that day

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 16:38 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 air that afternoon

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.

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 12:00Z

6.9 hours before the tornado, 123 km from the path. March 23, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2022-03-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 290 joules per kilogram, CIN -24, lifted condensation level 490 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2022-03-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 346 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 46 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
290 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-24 J/kg
Surface CAPE
213 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
490 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
346 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
438 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.6
Supercell composite
4.7
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Valdosta Regional (VLD), 22 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
16:53 UTC6968160° 3 kt1014.2+TSRA BR
16:55 UTC160° 2 kt1014.2+RA BR
16:59 UTC7068150° 3 kt1014.2VCTS +RA BR
17:00 UTC0° 0 kt1014.2RA BR
17:05 UTC0° 0 kt1014.2RA BR
17:07 UTC70690° 0 kt1013.9VCTS RA BR
17:10 UTC120° 2 kt1013.9+RA BR
17:15 UTC130° 2 kt1013.9+RA BR
17:19 UTC7068140° 5 kt1014.2+RA BR
17:20 UTC150° 5 kt1014.2+RA BR
17:23 UTC70680° 0 kt1014.2+RA FG
17:25 UTC0° 0 kt1014.2+RA FG
17:30 UTC140° 2 kt1013.9+RA FG
17:31 UTC7069 3 kt1013.9+RA FG
17:34 UTC7069 3 kt1013.9+RA FG
17:35 UTC230° 2 kt1013.9+RA BR
17:36 UTC7069 3 kt1013.9+RA BR
17:40 UTC200° 4 kt1013.9+RA BR
17:45 UTC0° 0 kt1013.9+RA BR
17:50 UTC180° 4 kt1013.9RA BR
17:53 UTC7069180° 4 kt1013.9RA BR
17:55 UTC160° 5 kt1013.9RA BR
17:57 UTC7069170° 5 kt1013.9RA BR
18:00 UTC170° 5 kt1013.5RA BR
18:05 UTC170° 5 kt1013.5RA BR
18:10 UTC7169180° 5 kt1013.5VCTS RA BR
18:10 UTC180° 5 kt1013.5RA BR
18:14 UTC7069200° 3 kt1013.5VCTS +RA BR
18:15 UTC200° 2 kt1013.5+RA BR
18:20 UTC0° 0 kt1013.9+RA FG
18:23 UTC7070220° 5 kt1013.9VCTS +RA FG
18:25 UTC210° 5 kt1013.9+RA FG
18:30 UTC200° 5 kt1013.5+RA BR
18:35 UTC170° 10 kt1012.9+RA BR
18:36 UTC6967160° 11 kt1012.5VCTS +RA BR
18:40 UTC130° 11 kt1011.9+RA BR
18:45 UTC170° 9 kt1012.5RA BR
18:46 UTC6967180° 9 kt1012.5RA BR
18:50 UTC190° 7 kt1012.9RA BR
18:53 UTC6967190° 7 kt1012.9RA BR
18:55 UTC190° 5 kt1012.9RA BR
19:00 UTC180° 9 kt1012.9+RA BR
19:02 UTC6968180° 9 kt1012.5RA BR
19:05 UTC180° 9 kt1012.5+RA BR
19:09 UTC7068190° 9 kt1012.9RA BR
19:10 UTC190° 8 kt1012.9-RA BR
19:15 UTC210° 7 kt1012.9-RA BR
19:18 UTC6968200° 6 kt161012.5-RA BR
19:20 UTC200° 8 kt1012.9-RA
19:25 UTC210° 5 kt1012.9-RA
19:30 UTC200° 5 kt1012.9-RA
19:35 UTC190° 5 kt1012.9-RA
19:40 UTC190° 7 kt1012.5-RA
19:45 UTC180° 8 kt1012.5-RA
19:50 UTC190° 5 kt1012.5
19:53 UTC6967190° 5 kt1012.5
19:55 UTC190° 5 kt1012.2
20:00 UTC180° 5 kt1012.2-RA
20:05 UTC180° 5 kt1012.2-RA
20:10 UTC180° 5 kt1012.2
20:15 UTC200° 4 kt1012.2
20:19 UTC7067180° 5 kt1012.2
20:20 UTC190° 5 kt1012.2
20:25 UTC190° 5 kt1012.2
20:30 UTC190° 5 kt1012.2
20:35 UTC180° 5 kt1011.9
20:40 UTC190° 7 kt1011.9
20:45 UTC180° 5 kt1011.9
20:49 UTC71.668190° 9 kt151011.9
20:50 UTC190° 9 kt1011.9

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

The radar

The Moody AFB radar (KVAX), 22 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:51 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
18:53 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 W StatenvilleEchols, GACORRECTS PREVIOUS TSTM WND DMG REPORT FROM 2 W STATENVILLE. SHERRIFF DEPARTMENT REPORTED POSSIBLE TORNADO AND DAMAGE TO HOMES WITH TREES DOWN, STREET SIGN PULLED FROM GROUND AND POWER OUTAGE NEAR HWY 135 SOUTH AND JEAN C
18:53 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 W StatenvilleEchols, GASHERRIFF DEPARTMENT REPORTED TREES DOWN NEAR HWY 135 SOUTH AND JEAN CIRCLE.
18:53 UTCTORNADO2 W StatenvilleEchols, GAUPDATE: NWS STORM SURVEY CONFIRMS AN EF0 TORNADO AT THIS LOCATION. PREVIOUS: CORRECTS PREVIOUS TORNADO REPORT FROM 2 W STATENVILLE. CORRECTS PREVIOUS TSTM WND DMG REPORT FROM 2 W STATENVILLE. SHERRIFF DEPARTMENT REPORTED

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2022 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 23, 2022

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 233:42 PM EDTEF0Warren, OH1.750$12,000
March 235:31 PM EDTUnratedVan Wert, OH0.320
March 236:11 PM EDTEF0Huron, OH0.8100$5,000
March 238:56 PM EDTEF2Pickens, SC6.3440$250,000
March 239:29 PM EDTEF0Pickens, SC0.120
March 239:45 PM EDTEF2Carroll, VA1.9125$400,000
March 2310:59 PM EDTEF1Alexander, NC6.2150$25,000

What this means

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.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.