EF0 tornado, Blantons Mill to Towalaga, Georgia, April 7, 2025

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 7, 2025

Touchdown

7:38 AM EDT (11:38 UTC)

Lifted

7:44 AM EDT (11:44 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

4.3 miles (6.9 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Spalding County

Touchdown point

33.321, -84.311

Lift-off point

33.331, -84.238

Record number

2504070538-01

38 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 90 mph.

• Several trees snapped on east side of 75 in a clearing
• A couple trees snapped on both sides of the road
• Trees downed in and around houses

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 into northwest GA in the early morning hours of the 6th. Storms were weakening as instability continued to fall, however some portions of the line were able to develop stronger wind gusts. The line surged northward as the day progressed and delayed the arrival of the line for areas further south. This allowed for instability to redevelop. As the line moved into central GA, storms strengthened causing sporadic wind damage and two brief tornados (one in Columbus and one in Macon). The line of storms surged ahead of the incoming cold front and tapered off through the overnight hours. Storms then refired along the cold front (behind the initial line) during the morning hours of the 7th producing several rotations requiring tornado warnings in the southern CWA and a tornado which moved from Spalding to Henry county.

The tornado continued|ENE into Spalding county crossing Hollonville Road, Fairview|Road, and Hardy Road uprooting and snapping several trees.

Further|northeast along New Salem Road several trees were snapped and|uprooted including one onto a home. The tornado continued ENE|along Vaughn School Road downing trees and powerlines and|eventually reaching hwy 92 and Vineyard Road and Steele Road.|Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted particularly in the area|around Steele road region between Steele and Vineyard road, and|it was in this area where the tornado reached EF1 intensity with|estimated max winds of 90 mph. Not long after reaching max|intensity, radar data and ground survey both conclude that the|tornado began to occlude and weaken as a new tornadic circulation|began to form approximately 1.5 miles north. Tree damage was|noted along Caldwell Road eastward to Patterson road where this|tornado weakened and lifted. At the same time this tornado|weakened along Patterson Road south of Manley road, approximately|7:38 AM EDT, a new tornado was developing along Patterson road|1.5 miles north.

An EF0 tornado with maximum winds of 80 mph touched down in|northern Spalding County along Patterson road around 7:38 AM EDT|on April 7, 2025. The tornado snapped a few trees along|Patterson Road eastward along Mobley Road. The storm crossed Hwy|19 with no damage noted, however, just east of hwy 19 along Ga|Hwy 3 there were numerous trees downed including one onto a home|along Carolyn Dr. The tornado continued east in a mostly|inaccessible and wooded region east of North Pomona Road before|crossing Teamon Road where several trees were snapped on both|sides. The tornado weakened in the Meeks St. area at around|7:44 AM. This tornado was part of the same storm which spawned a|tornado in western Spalding county 15 minutes prior and up to|this one beginning.

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

18 minutes of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 11:20 UTC, 18 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 12:00 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:43 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 Atlanta radar (KFFC), 27 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 11:38 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 2025 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

8 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.