EF1 tornado, Hunters Crossroad to Raleigh, Georgia, March 27, 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 27, 2023

Touchdown

7:06 AM EDT (11:06 UTC)

Lifted

7:19 AM EDT (11:19 UTC)

On the ground

13 minutes

Path length

8.7 miles (14.0 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Meriwether County

Touchdown point

32.964, -84.778

Lift-off point

32.945, -84.633

Record number

2303270506-01

53 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FFC, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 115 mph.

• 2 snapped trees under couplet.

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 first touched down along Ogletree Road where several trees were snapped and uprooted. The tornado continued east along and just north of Ogletree Road where trees were both snapped and uprooted both along the road and in the forested area to the north of the road. The tornado increased in intensity to EF1 as it crossed Old Durand Rd snapping and uprooting hundreds of trees. A large home suffered minor roof damage as the tornado crossed Bobwhite Road. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted near the intersection of Ogletree Road and Bobwhite road. The tornado continued east crossing Hwy 18 at the intersection of Ogletree. Several homes were severely damaged from fallen trees including a mobile home that was nearly destroyed by a tree. The tornado weakened as it crossed Hwy 27 and Harmony Church road causing mostly EF0 tree damage as it passed. The tornado passed Temple Dukes road snapping and uprooting trees causing minor home damage before reaching Dukes Waddell and Moreland Gill road where a large cover attached to a home was destroyed causing damage to the home. An outbuilding nearby also sustained roof damage in addition to snapping and uprooting trees. The tornado lifted as it crossed Hwy 85 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.

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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:52 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.

Pine Mountain (PIM), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Atlanta radar (KFFC), 47 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 11:08 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

2 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.