EF0 tornado, Crest to Salem, Georgia, March 16, 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

March 16, 2026

Touchdown

7:00 AM EDT (11:00 UTC)

Lifted

7:03 AM EDT (11:03 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

3.0 miles (4.9 km)

Path width

360 yards (329 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Upson County

Touchdown point

32.923, -84.462

Lift-off point

32.921, -84.411

Highest wind the damage implies

78 mph

Surveyed by

NWS FFC

Survey last edited

March 18, 2026

Record number

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

Tornado damage was first observed on Hendricks Church road where a few small pine trees were snapped. Damage continued across Hurricane Creek where approximately 20-30 trees were knocked down or uprooted in private farmland. The path continues with some minor outbuilding damage before reaching Ellerbeetown Rd where some additional tree damage was noted. The track continues eastward towards the intersection of McCard Rd and 74 where additional tree damage was observed as well as some minor structural damage to a home. After crossing Womble Creek, the tornado uprooted trees along Thurston School Rd before continuing east where it caused some minor tree and outhouse damage near the intersection of Butts Rd and Pickard Rd. From there, the path ends and the tornado appears to have lifted. This damage was in line with the estimated maximum wind speed of 78 mph and an EF0 rating.

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

15 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 85 mph.

• Two uprooted hardwoods and one small snapped hardwood on Roan Rd.
• Large limb 18-20” in diameter splintered/twisted.
• A few small pines snapped along Atwater Road near Oak Ridge Drive.
• One hardwood large limb split off from main trunk.

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

Yet another QLCS moved through portions of north and central Georgia in the early morning hours of the 16th. Pockets of concentrated winds damage were found mostly in north Georgia where the storms held together best. A few more brief tornados were found via surveys, including one just southeast of the metro and two further south to Macon and Pine Mountain.

Tornado damage was first observed on Hendricks Church Road where a few small pine trees were snapped. Damage continued across Hurricane Creek where approximately 20-30 trees were knocked down or uprooted in private farmland. The path continues with damage to a small outbuilding before reaching Ellerbeetown Rd where some additional tree damage was noted. The track continues eastward towards the intersection of McCard Rd and 74 where additional tree damage was observed as well as some minor structural damage to a home. After crossing Womble Creek, the|tornado uprooted trees along Thurston School Rd before continuing east where it caused some minor tree and outhouse damage near the intersection of Butts Rd and Pickard Rd. From there, the path ends and the tornado appears to have lifted. This damage was in line with the estimated maximum wind speed of 78 mph and an|EF0 rating.

A weak velocity couplet was detected on radar northwest of the intersection of Grays Chapel Rd and Grady Pennyman Rd at 7:20 AM. The storm tracked to the east, with a tornado debris signature (TDS) appearing at 7:24 AM over Grays Chapel Rd. Two trees were uprooted along the road, and four trees were snapped at their tops before |the circulation moved over a densely wooded area. By 7:26 AM, the velocity couplet had weakened and was located over Israel Creek east of Grays Chapel Rd, although the TDS persisted due to lofted debris. The damage in this area was limited, but enough to indicate a brief touchdown. All damage was consistent of EF-0 damage, with maximum winds estimated around 75 mph.

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

1 minute of warning. NWS FFC issued a tornado warning for this county at 10:59 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 11:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 08:11 UTC and running to 12:11 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, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 05:26 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), 51 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 11:00 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

10 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.