EF0 tornado, Centerville, Georgia, April 3, 2024

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

April 3, 2024

Touchdown

3:44 AM EDT (07:44 UTC)

Lifted

3:46 AM EDT (07:46 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.2 miles (2.0 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Houston County

Touchdown point

32.611, -83.714

Lift-off point

32.617, -83.695

Record number

2404030144-01

4 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 70 mph.

• Several medium-sized retail signs blown out.

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

A Quasi-Linear Convective System moved through the area through the night of the 2nd into the morning of the 3rd. Convection across West Central GA was weaker with limited to no severe activity due to weaker CAPE values, however shear and helicity were plentiful. Convection in the early morning hours was able to organize into several messy supercells ahead of the line, as they tapped into a region of more ample CAPE and steep mid-level lapse rates. Several tornado warnings were issued with three confirmed tornados including a strong EF2 tornado in Rockdale County between Pine Mountain and Conyers.

A brief tornado touched down in a field of trees just southwest of Hwy 41 and Watson Blvd intersection. A few trees were seen snapped near this intersection that took out powerlines/poles. About 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile east of this location along Watson Blvd a few retail signs were blown out. No notable structural damage occurred aside that. Damage was confirmed by Tornado Debris Signature (TDS) from the KJGX radar.

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

2 minutes of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 07:42 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 08:05 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 05:07 UTC and running to 09:35 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 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.

Macon/Lewis Wilson (MCN), 10 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Robins AFB radar (KJGX), 34 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:42 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 2024 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

3 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.