Easter Tornado and Severe Weather Outbreak

It seems like around the time of Easter we get big storms in the southeast and this year was no different. Keep in mind April is right in the middle of what we term severe weather season… with the greatest threat for damaging weather and destructive tornadoes. March through May bringsthe greatest threat for severe weather and tornadoes locally.

And you may wonder climatologically how often Easter tornadoes occur. Nationwide… 26 out of the 59 Easter Sunday’s since 1950 have seen tornado development occur somewhere. So Easter tends to be a very active severe storm holiday.

Easter weekend 2009 got off to a stormy start across Georgia and South Carolina. A severe weather outbreak began Friday afternoon across north Georgia and spread east across the two state region during the evening and into the early morning hours Saturday. During this event… an amazing number of tornadoes dropped across the region. Total… 15 tornadoes developed in Georgia and 11 developed in South Carolina.

Creating the storms… a cold front swept through the area late in the evening. A strong upper level disturbance helped drive the front… moving across the Ohio Valley. Very warm and moist air was in place ahead of the front… giving the storms energy to use. Strong south winds at the surface and strong west winds aloft brought a deep sheared environment favorable for rotating and supercell thunderstorms.

Damage was reported in the northwest part of Georgia around Rome and around the Augusta area. EF-2 damage was confirmed in Augusta in the area from Barton Chapel Road to Bungalow Road. EF-2 wind speeds range from 111 to 135 mph. This tornado was associated with EF-3 tornado damage near New Ellenton, SC. A damage assessment team found the tornado tracked 35 miles from Grovetown Georgia to just east of Ellenton, SC.

In South Carolina, at least ten counties reported some type of damage and power outages. The most significant damage has been reported in Abbeville, Aiken, Anderson and Greenwood Counties in the upstate of South Carolina. Statewide, 49 homes have been reported as destroyed, 107 homes with major damage and 141 homes with minor damage.

One traffic-related death as a result of the storms was confirmed in Aiken County.

At least 8 tornadoes occurred across north and central Georgia Friday evening No fatalities were reported with the storms, but one serious injury was reported in Hancock County. In addition to the tornadoes, extremely large hail was reported across the state. Widespread reports of quarter to golfball sized hail were received, with some isolated larger reports. The insurance commisioners office in Georgia estimates 60 million insured dollars of loss in the state.

Here locally… in Allendale county, South Carolina… 2 tornadoes have been confirmed. Both were near Martin. The first tornado was rated a EF-1 with estimated winds of 100 mph and the second tornado was rated a EF-2 with estimated winds of 120-130 mph. The storm damaged numerous trees, and completely destroyed the Historic Cave Methodist Church. The church was wiped completely off its foundation… and several grave stones surrounding the Church were overturned or knocked down. An 18 wheel truck was overturned a couple hundred feet from Cave Methodist Church… with a tree falling on it and causing further damage. In total… 4 homes, 1 mobile home, 1 Church, and 5 vehicles received damage. Hundreds of acres of timber was damaged or destroyed as well. No injuries and deaths were reported fortunately.

Take care… and always take cover if you are in the path of any thunderstorm! Have a great week!