EF1 tornado, Allenwood to Underwood, Georgia, March 26, 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

March 26, 2023

Touchdown

7:40 AM EDT (11:40 UTC)

Lifted

7:50 AM EDT (11:50 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

7.0 miles (11.3 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Baldwin County

Touchdown point

33.086, -83.250

Lift-off point

33.119, -83.137

Record number

2303260540-01

39 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.

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

A prolonged, active weather pattern persisted across Georgia through late March, culminating in a series of disturbances that impacted the region March 25th through March 28th. In addition to numerous reports of damaging winds, hail and a few tornadoes, extreme rainfall amounts caused flash flooding over portions of the state. A swath of 4 or more inches of rain stretched from LaGrange, to Forsyth, to Augusta, with isolated amounts above 10 inches.

The tornado spun up in an area west of North Glynn St and West Charlton St, snapping and uprooting trees. The tornado quickly intensified to EF1 as it hit the Oconee Regional Medical Center. Several windows were blown out, much of the roof of the covered walkway on the west entrance was collapsed, and the roof of the atrium and the main building sustained some damage. The tornado continued east, snapping trees across a railroad track and damaging a roof of several industrial buildings to the south of MLK Jr Drive. Several homes were damaged along Walton St by fallen trees. A large advertisement sign was blown down along Columbus St as the tornado continued ENE paralleling MLK JR Drive and W. Mitchell St. Several homes along W. Mitchell, Fraleys|Alley, and N. Wilkinson St sustained EF0 and EF1 roof damage, and several homes had fallen trees on them. A small retail complex along N. Wilkinson St sustained damage to its facade and had windows blown out. The tornado crossed MLK Jr Dr at the intersection of N. Jefferson st where it hit Northside Baptist Church. One of the building's back wall was partially blown out, an HVAC unit was blown off into the parking lot, and the main building sustained roof and siding damage. The storm continued ENE, crossing Orchard Hill Road and striking the Baldwin Co EOC where part of a roof structure was blown off and several trees were downed. As it continued it moved across an industrial area with several large warehouses. Several of the warehouses had roof material blown off, and several walls were blown out, including a|large brick wall. A large trailer was picked up from the parking lot and thrown into one of the warehouses, and several 18 wheeler trailers were blown over. The tornado continued ENE, crossing the River and snapping and uprooting trees along Summit Road and Lake Laurel Road. As the tornado crossed Black Springs Road, a home sustained moderate roof damage as the carport was pulled away from the home. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted in and around that area. The tornado quickly weakened as it crossed through a wooded area crossing Champions creek. The tornado lifted shortly|after crossing Sparta Hwy where a couple trees were uprooted.

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 11:35 UTC and running to 17:00 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:46 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 Robins AFB radar (KJGX), 50 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 11:37 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

8 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.