EF1 tornado, New Hope to Copeland, Georgia, May 27, 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

May 27, 2024

Touchdown

12:02 PM EDT (16:02 UTC)

Lifted

12:12 PM EDT (16:12 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

4.3 miles (6.9 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Harris County

Touchdown point

32.783, -85.058

Lift-off point

32.764, -84.990

Record number

2405271002-01

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 EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 87 mph.

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

A line of thunderstorms moved across North and Central GA. Storms first started in Northeast GA during the morning hours and moved to the Southeast through the afternoon. Storms mostly posed a damaging wind threat, however a few storms were able to utilize interacting outflow boundaries to form a couple quick spin-up tornados.

A tornado occurred over mainly rural areas of northwest Harris|County around midday on Monday (Memorial Day), May 27th. Along|and just to the east of Pine Lake Road, debris from trees was|scattered around near a residence (1660 Pine Lake Road). A|tornado debris signature (TDS) was noted (from KFFC radar) around|this area which supports the tree damage. The storm/tornado|continued its track east-southeast with trees snapped or uprooted|along GA Hwy 219 near mile marker 14. This is just west of I-185,|again in a very rural area. Another brief TDS was noted (from|KMXX radar) near Hawks Road just west of a high-tension power|line region that runs north-to-south across the area. EM|officials traveled via ATVs in this area and noted a significant|number (greater than 30) trees either snapped or uprooted. Little|damage was noted on the east side of this area and radar shows|the circulation quickly dissipating after 1612z. Based on the|number and magnitude of tree damage, we are estimating max winds|of 90 MPH which would make this an EF-1 tornado.

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 severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 11:16 UTC and running to 18:00 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:59 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 Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 15:58 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

6 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.