EF1 tornado, Rollins to Mill Creek Station, Georgia, March 15, 2025

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

March 15, 2025

Touchdown

11:41 PM EDT (03:41 UTC)

Lifted

11:53 PM EDT (03:53 UTC)

On the ground

12 minutes

Path length

11.6 miles (18.7 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Paulding County

Touchdown point

33.856, -84.876

Lift-off point

33.993, -84.755

Record number

2503152141-01

26 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 105 mph.

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

A robust wave moving across the southeast generated a large and unstable warm sector underneath moderate shear. A few thunderstorms were able to develop in the evening hours of the 15th as the cold front approached and dynamics improved. One cell in far north Georgia became strong with damaging winds and a strong enough rotation to warrant a tornado warning. No tornado was generated by the storm. Conditions became more favorable for severe thunderstorms as the front moved across the area. Damaging winds and an EF1 tornado were generated west of the ATL metro before weakening. The QLCS continue in strength across central GA mostly posing a damaging wind threat, however conditions reinvigorated across east-central GA necessitating further tornado warnings. Brief EF0 tornadic damage was found with those northeast of Milledgeville.

An EF1 tornado with maximum winds of 105 to 110 mph touched down|in central Paulding County on March 15, 2025 at 11:41 PM EST. The|tornado spun up within a strong line of thunderstorms moving|rapidly towards the northeast. The tornado initially touched down|to the southwest of Sudie, GA near Pace Creek Lake, where|multiple large pine trees were downed and an outbuilding was|destroyed. The tornado then tracked northeast where it produced|the initial EF1 rated damage near the intersection of Scoggins|Rd. and Cole Lake Rd. This included numerous large pine trees|downed and power line damage. 2 large pine trees fell on two|homes in the Paces Lake neighborhood. From there the tornado|continued on a northeast track through a mostly forested area|before intersecting Villa Rica HWY near Old Villa Rica Rd. The|tornado paralleled Villa Rica HWY for around 1.5 miles until it|reached the intersection with HWY 278. Damage was most intense|during this phase of the tornado with peak winds estimated in the|105 to 110 range. This included damage to a gas station, numerous|uprooted and topped trees, downed power lines and damage to the|roof of a Kroger grocery store near the intersection of HWY|278 and Villa Rica HWY. After crossing Merchants Dr. the tornado|weakened into the EF0 range as if tracked northeast near Ray|Mountain and into New Hope, GA. Additional EF1 damage was found|just north of New Hope near the intersection of Mount Tabor|Church Rd. and Parkway Ct. Here multiple large trees were|uprooted, a shed was destroyed and several homes were damaged by|falling trees. The tornado then continued towards the northeast|where it caused minor tree and shingle damage in the Reserve|neighborhood. It lifted near the intersection of White Spruce Ln.|and Wood Point Way around 11:53 PM EST. The total number of|structures damaged by the tornado was estimated at 15 by Paulding|Co. EMA.

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 tornado watch, issued at 00:49 UTC and running to 06:19 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:47 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), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:44 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

49 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.