EF0 tornado, Pickens County, Georgia, July 28, 2026

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, as surveyed

EF0, preliminary

Date

July 28, 2026

Touchdown

10:29 PM EDT (02:29 UTC)

Lifted

10:33 PM EDT (02:33 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

2.0 miles (3.2 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Pickens County

Touchdown point

34.543, -84.448

Lift-off point

34.521, -84.425

Highest wind the damage implies

80 mph

Surveyed by

NWS FFC

Survey last edited

July 31, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

A brief tornado occurred in north Pickens County, GA in the late evening hours of July 28, 2026, first producing damage at 10:29 PM EDT. Damage was first observed to the south of the Pickens/Gordon County line, where a few trees were uprooted near a home on Phil Dundee Way. The tornado continued southeast, where it uprooted trees along the northern portion of Outback Rd. To this point, the uprooted trees combined with minimal damage near the ground indicated that the rotation remained mainly elevated, only sporadically touching the surface. As it continued along its southeast path, the tornado brought trees down across E Price Creek Rd and additionally uprooted or snapped trees on Outback Ridge Trail. The most substantial damage occurred near a home at the intersection of Outback Ridge Trail and E Price Creek Rd, where several trees were uprooted and another was snapped. A barrier comprised of 6x6” boards was also pulled from the ground by one tree being uprooted. The elevation of the terrain decreased to the south of this location, though there were signs of disturbance in the trees along the downward slope. The next indicator of damage was observed along Jack Pinyon Rd where a tree was snapped. Additional damage occurred near the intersection of E Price Creek Rd and Mountain Crest Dr where smaller trees and limbs were downed on both sides of the road. After taking a more southerly turn, the tornado last produced damage on Old Burnt Mountain Rd where a partially dead tree was brought down across the road. The tornado appears to have dissipated by 10:33 PM EDT.

Written by NWS FFC in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

18 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 80 mph.

• Tree uprooted, leaning on another, leaves on tree so it’s fresh
• One tree snapped - it appeared to be very weak
• 3 trees uprooted and 1 small one snapped. Trees also lifted 6x6 wall up. Additional limbs down on property.

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

0 minutes of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:29 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:45 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 00:01 UTC and running to 05:00 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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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), 130 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:27 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 2026 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

9 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.