EF1 tornado, Rentz to Mayberry, Georgia, March 12, 2026

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, as surveyed

EF1, preliminary

Date

March 12, 2026

Touchdown

8:00 AM EDT (12:00 UTC)

Lifted

8:02 AM EDT (12:02 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

0.8 miles (1.3 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Laurens County

Touchdown point

32.385, -82.969

Lift-off point

32.386, -82.955

Highest wind the damage implies

100 mph

Surveyed by

NWS FFC

Survey last edited

March 18, 2026

Record number

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

A brief tornado occurred to the east of Rentz, GA in the early morning hours of March 12. Damage from the tornado was first observed on Etheridge Rd near the intersection of GB Lindsey Rd where a pine tree was knocked over into the road. The tornado continued northeast, running parallel to GB Lindsey Rd where it caused minor shingle damage to the roof of a home and damaged large branches in nearby trees. Continuing northeast, the tornado uprooted or snapped about ten pine trees in close proximity before causing significant damage to a home. At this home, winds appeared to have entered through the opening, and pushed the walls outward. The northern facing wall was pulled out off of its nails, with debris and cinderblocks from near its base thrown over 50 feet away. This was consistent with EF1 damage with winds of 100 mph. A hardwood tree was also uprooted immediately outside the home. The tornado destroyed a large chicken coop on the northeast side of the home and moved it about 30 feet. The tornado continued northeastward across a field, causing damage to large branches at the tree line and uprooting an additional tree near a reservoir, lifting shortly thereafter.

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

25 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 100 mph.

• About 10 pine trees down, some with trunks snapped
• Branches broken on pine trees, treetops snapped
• Tree uprooted, wide root system
• Damage to carport. Winds appear to have entered through open side, and pushed the walls outward. One wall was pulled out off of nails, with debris and cinderblocks thrown 50-60 feet away. Damage to the rest of the home is fairly minimal, with damage to siding and shingles

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

A strong cold front and associated QLCS system moved through central Georgia in the early morning hours of the 12th. Storms within the line were able to produce a few spots of wind damage, however the main hazard ended up being the numerous short lived and brief spin-up tornados which occurred in central Georgia. The strongest tornado was an EF2 near Marshallville.

A brief tornado occurred to the east of Rentz, GA in the early morning hours of March 12. Damage from the tornado was first observed on Etheridge Rd near the intersection of GB Lindsey Rd where a pine tree was knocked over into the road. The tornado|continued northeast, running parallel to GB Lindsey Rd where it caused minor shingle damage to the roof of a home and damaged large branches in nearby trees. Continuing northeast, the tornado uprooted or snapped about ten pine trees in close proximity|before causing significant damage to a home. At this home, winds appeared to have entered through the opening, and pushed the walls outward. The northern facing wall was pulled out off of its nails, with debris and cinderblocks from near its base thrown|over 50 feet away. This was consistent with EF1 damage with winds of 100 mph. A hardwood tree was also uprooted immediately outside the home. The tornado destroyed a large chicken coop on the northeast side of the home and moved it about 30 feet. The tornado continued northeastward across a field, causing damage to|large branches at the tree line and uprooting an additional tree near a reservoir, lifting shortly thereafter.

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

22 minutes of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 11:38 UTC, 22 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 12:03 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 10:37 UTC and running to 13:00 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, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 05:31 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 Robins AFB radar (KJGX), 49 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 12:00 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

23 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.