Tornadoes · United States · Georgia · 2023

EF0 tornado, Myricks Mill, Georgia, March 27, 2023

This EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Twiggs County on March 27, 2023, touching down at 8:52 AM EDT and reaching 50 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 27, 2023
Touchdown
8:52 AM EDT (12:52 UTC)
Lifted
8:53 AM EDT (12:53 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.3 miles (0.5 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Twiggs County
Touchdown point
32.879, -83.423
Lift-off point
32.879, -83.417
Record number
2303270652-01

The damage survey

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FFC, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 80 mph.

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

What the Weather Service recorded

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.

A EF0 tornado briefly touched just east of Mountain Springs Church Road in northern Twiggs County. The tornado snapped and uprooted trees behind a home along the road and blew siding off of a home next to a main power line running through the area. Several trees were snapped and uprooted on either side of the clearing for the powerlines. The tornado quickly lifted within a heavily forested area shortly after touching down.

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

The warnings

0 minutes of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 12:52 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 13:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 11:29 UTC and running to 15:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
00:00 UTC14:32 UTCFlood WarningFFC
03:43 UTC07:24 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchFFC
11:12 UTC11:48 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFFC
11:29 UTC15:00 UTCTornado WatchFFC
12:34 UTC13:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFFC
12:52 UTC13:00 UTCTornado WarningFFC
13:15 UTC18:44 UTCFlash Flood WarningFFC
15:02 UTC16:26 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchFFC
15:41 UTC16:02 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFFC

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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. 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 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.

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), 00:00Z

11.1 hours after it, 114 km from the path. March 28, 2023.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 00:00Z on 2023-03-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -83101, lifted condensation level 2506 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 00:00Z on 2023-03-28The 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 17 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 59 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-83101 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2506 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
59 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
17 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
31 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Macon/Lewis Wilson (MCN), 30 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
10:53 UTC6665160° 9 kt1013.2VCTS
10:55 UTC170° 9 kt1013.2
11:00 UTC6665170° 8 kt1013.5TS
11:00 UTC170° 8 kt1013.5
11:05 UTC170° 9 kt141013.9
11:10 UTC220° 5 kt1014.6
11:15 UTC230° 4 kt1014.9
11:15 UTC6765230° 4 kt1014.9VCTS
11:20 UTC220° 4 kt1014.9
11:25 UTC0° 0 kt1014.9
11:29 UTC67650° 0 kt1014.9
11:30 UTC0° 0 kt1015.2
11:35 UTC10° 5 kt1015.2
11:40 UTC10° 5 kt1015.2
11:45 UTC30° 4 kt1014.9
11:49 UTC66.264.460° 5 kt1014.9
11:50 UTC70° 5 kt1014.9
11:53 UTC676580° 5 kt1014.9
11:55 UTC80° 5 kt1014.9
12:00 UTC80° 4 kt1014.9
12:02 UTC6765100° 5 kt1014.9
12:05 UTC110° 5 kt1014.2
12:10 UTC130° 7 kt1013.9
12:15 UTC130° 5 kt1013.9
12:20 UTC120° 5 kt1013.9
12:25 UTC140° 5 kt1013.9
12:28 UTC6765160° 3 kt1014.2VCTS
12:30 UTC0° 0 kt1014.2
12:35 UTC160° 2 kt1014.9
12:40 UTC330° 2 kt1015.6
12:45 UTC 13 kt181016.3
12:50 UTC 17 kt1016.3
12:53 UTC666210° 12 kt211015.9VCTS
12:55 UTC350° 11 kt1015.2
13:00 UTC340° 5 kt1015.9
13:05 UTC 11 kt171015.9
13:10 UTC360° 8 kt1015.9
13:15 UTC60° 5 kt1015.9
13:20 UTC50° 7 kt1015.6
13:25 UTC60° 9 kt1015.6
13:27 UTC656270° 9 kt1015.6
13:30 UTC70° 5 kt1015.2
13:35 UTC80° 7 kt1014.9
13:40 UTC120° 8 kt1015.2
13:45 UTC360° 4 kt1014.9
13:50 UTC0° 0 kt1014.9
13:53 UTC6563100° 5 kt1014.9VCTS
13:55 UTC120° 2 kt1014.9
14:00 UTC0° 0 kt1015.2
14:05 UTC0° 0 kt1015.2
14:10 UTC10° 4 kt1015.2
14:15 UTC0° 0 kt1015.6
14:20 UTC0° 0 kt1015.9-RA BR
14:21 UTC65630° 0 kt1015.9VCTS -RA BR
14:25 UTC 1015.9+RA BR
14:30 UTC330° 7 kt1015.9RA BR
14:31 UTC6563340° 6 kt1015.9TSRA BR
14:35 UTC310° 4 kt1015.6RA BR
14:40 UTC330° 5 kt1015.9-RA BR
14:45 UTC340° 4 kt1015.6-RA BR
14:48 UTC64.462.60° 0 kt1015.9VCTS RA BR
14:50 UTC290° 2 kt1016.3+RA BR

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

The radar

The Robins AFB radar (KJGX), 24 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 12:50 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
11:21 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Se GriswoldvilleTwiggs, GASEVERAL TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN ON RIDGE RD., KNIGHT RD., DONNA RD., AND HOWARD RD.
12:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGMaconBibb, GALARGE TREE DOWN AND VEHICLE DAMAGED AT MERCER UNIVERSITY DRIVE ON MERCER UNIVERSITY CAMPUS.
12:35 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nw Cross KeysBibb, GAMULTIPLE TREES DOWN ON EASTVIEW AVE AND SHURLING DRIVE IN MACON GA. POWERLINES DOWN AND ROADWAY BLOCKED.
12:52 UTCTORNADO2 Se Mountain SpringsTwiggs, GAA BRIEF EF-0 TORNADO WITH MAX WINDS OF 80 MPH TOUCHED DOWN IN NORTHERN TWIGGS COUNTY. SEVERAL TREES WERE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED, AND SIDING WAS REMOVED FROM A HOME BEFORE THE TORNADO LIFTED.
12:57 UTCFLASH FLOODJulietteMonroe, GASOCIAL MEDIA REPORT OF FLOODED RESIDENTIAL DRIVEWAY.
15:20 UTCFLASH FLOOD1 N MaconBibb, GA2 FEET OF WATER WITH A VEHICLE STALLED AT THE ON RAMP FOR I-75.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2023 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 27, 2023

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 272:41 AM CDTEF2Macon, AL15.41,450
March 277:06 AM EDTEF1Meriwether, GA8.7150

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.