EF1 tornado, Nicholls, Georgia, January 9, 2024

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

January 9, 2024

Touchdown

12:55 PM EST (17:55 UTC)

Lifted

1:05 PM EST (18:05 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

7.3 miles (11.7 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Coffee and Bacon counties

Touchdown point

31.517, -82.664

Lift-off point

31.584, -82.569

Record number

2401091155-01

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

• Pole snapped off but weakened.
• Porch roof ripped off, materials blown to the back of the property.
• Yard tractor tossed with building.
• Multiple hardwood trees uprooted.

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

A strong pre-frontal squall line of strong to severe storms moved quickly eastward across SE GA and NE FL during the afternoon and exited off the SE GA coast into the Atlantic waters by the late afternoon and offshore of the NE FL coast by the evening. Strong dynamics with this system included a very strong low-level jet of 45-55 knots and 0-6 km shear of 50-70 knots, which along with good lapse rates aloft around 6.5 C/km and high dewpoints into the upper 60s created 500-800 J/KG of CAPE. These ingredients promoted threat of damaging wind gusts of 50-70 mph or greater, hail, and isolated tornadoes within more intense storms embedded within the Squall line.

An EF1 tornado with peak winds near 110 mph raced NE from just west of Nicholls in Coffee County to Norman Cole Circle in west-central Bacon county before it dissipated. Most damage occurred to trees and farm buildings, with some outbuildings totally destroyed. A tornado touched down near Saginaw along Georgia Highway 32 East|where EF0 tree damage was observed around 12:55 pm EST. |The tornado tracked to the northeast crossing Nicholls Road where |trees were uprooted. The circulation continued to track NE |crossing the intersection of Hazel Nut Road and Peachtree |Road where EF1 strength to 110 mph occurred due to total |destruction of a barn and outbuildings that were blown off |of their foundations and rolled across the property around 1 pm EST. |A couple of family homes in this area suffered roof damage and |utility poles were damaged. The tornado continued to track NE |crossing Roberts Cemetery Road, Dove Lane and Honey Suckle Road |where EF1 strength continued to caused tree and outbuilding |structure damage, including large hardwood trees blown down and |uprooted.

An EF1 tornado with peak winds near 110 mph raced NE from just west of Nicholls in Coffee County to Norman Cole Circle in west-central Bacon County before it dissipated. Most damage occurred to trees and farm buildings, with some outbuildings totally destroyed. The tornado continued to track NE crossing Roberts Cemetery Road, Dove Lane and Honey Suckle Road where EF1 strength continued to caused tree and outbuilding structure damage, including large hardwood trees blown down and uprooted. The tornado continued NE and entered into Bacon County where it crossed Indian Road, Black River Road and Florida Road where trees and outbuildings were damaged. The tornado maintained EF1 strength as it damaged well-built structures including a car port, outbuildings, farm buildings and trees along Norman Cold Circle before dissipating around 1:05 pm EST.

An EF1 tornado with peak winds near 110 mph raced NE from just west of Nicholls in Coffee County to Norman Cole Circle in west-central Bacon county before it dissipated. Most damage occurred to trees and farm buildings, with some outbuildings totally destroyed. The tornado continued to track NE crossing Roberts Cemetery Road, Dove Lane and Honey Suckle Road where EF1 strength continued to caused tree and outbuilding structure damage, including large hardwood trees blown down and |uprooted. The tornado continued NE and crossed Indian Road, |Black River Road and Florida Road where trees and outbuildings |were damaged. The tornado maintained EF1 strength as it damaged well-built |structures including a car port, outbuildings, farm buildings and |trees along Norman Cold Circle before dissipating around 1:05 pm EST.

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

4 minutes of warning. NWS JAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 17:51 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 18:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 12:07 UTC and running to 19:35 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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:04 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.

Alma/Bacon Co. (AMG), 11 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Moody AFB radar (KVAX), 82 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:53 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

31 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.