EF1 tornado, Pachitla, Georgia, June 14, 2023

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

June 14, 2023

Touchdown

5:40 PM EDT (21:40 UTC)

Lifted

5:43 PM EDT (21:43 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

1.4 miles (2.2 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$50,000

County

Randolph County

Touchdown point

31.799, -84.709

Lift-off point

31.794, -84.687

Record number

2306141540-01

46 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TAE, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.

• Numerous small pines bent or down.
• Corn bent. Possible inflow.
• Trees topped. Possible inflow.
• Center pivot flipped. Possible inflow.

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

The middle part of June was unusually stormy across the area. Numerous rounds of strong to severe storms impacted the region with multiple squall lines that produced severe winds as well as supercells that produced large hail and tornadoes. Heavy rain also occurred over a multi-day period, which saturated the ground and led to some instances of flash flooding. ||The synoptic pattern featured well above average 250 mb zonal wind anomalies, which were traceable back to an active subtropical jet stream. Greater than average instability was also present, in part due to anomalously warm Gulf of Mexico SSTs. This combination of above average shear from the active subtropical jet and above average instability from the warmer than average SSTs provided a synoptic environment favorable for severe weather as upper level shortwaves moving through the area. This pattern persisted for many days, leading to an unusually large amount of severe weather.

A pair of tornadoes touched down east of Cuthbert near Trinity Church Road. This tornado was the northern circulation, which touched down near the intersection of Trinity Church Road and Wilton Rigsby Road, causing tree damage and damage to an old out building. Further east, roof damage to a single family home and significant tree damage was noted supportive of an EF-1 rating with winds of approximately 110 mph. The tornado continued east, damaging a church, a mobile home, several stands of trees, and tossing debris into nearby fields. This circulation appears to have dissipated in a field near the intersection of Trinity Church Road and Wooten Road.

A pair of tornadoes touched down east of Cuthbert near Trinity Church Road. This tornado was the southern circulation, which touched along Wilton Rigsby Road south of Trinity Church Road. The tornado continued across several fields, causing tree damage along the way. A substantial steel farm storage building collapsed along Trinity Church Road, just east of Wooten Road. This damage was rated EF-1, with winds estimated to be approximately 110 mph. A grain silo was partially destroyed at this location as well. The tornado continued to move east southeast down Trinity Church Road, causing tree damage and damage to several home and manufactured homes. This damage was mostly rated EF-0 and low-end EF-1. The tornado appears to have weakened as it moved to the southeast and dissipated in a field east of Trinity Church Road.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:22 UTC and running to 22:41 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:48 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.

The Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 81 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:40 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 2023 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

11 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.