Tornadoes Are More Powerful Than We Realize

A tornado tore through parts of southwest Georgia early Thursday morning, damaging and destroying trailers, injuring six.

Weather in your inbox

Forecast Location

Sign Up

By signing up you agree to the Terms & Privacy Policy. Unsubscribe at any time.

The tornado was confirmed by the National Weather Service in Tallahassee, Florida, at 2:42 a.m. EDT just 13 minutes before striking a trailer park north of Edison, Georgia, about 35 miles west of Albany in southwest Georgia. 

Calhoun County emergency management reported 3-4 minor injuries with two trailers overturned north of Edison.

Five minutes later, a trailer was completely destroyed in Dickey, Georgia, with 2 injuries requiring immediate medical attention.

The National Weather Service office in Tallahassee, Florida, issued their first tornado warning for Calhoun County, including the towns of Edison and Dickey, Georgia, 21 minutes before the tornado struck the trailer park just north of Edison and 26 minutes before it destroyed a trailer in Dickey. 

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
234 AM EDT THU APR 7 2016

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TALLAHASSEE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
CENTRAL CALHOUN COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN GEORGIA...
SOUTHWESTERN TERRELL COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN GEORGIA...
EAST CENTRAL CLAY COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN GEORGIA...
SOUTHERN RANDOLPH COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN GEORGIA...

* UNTIL 300 AM EDT

* AT 234 AM EDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO
WAS LOCATED NEAR FORT GAINES...MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.

* THIS DANGEROUS STORM WILL BE NEAR...
EDISON AROUND 255 AM EDT.
MORGAN AROUND 300 AM EDT.

OTHER LOCATIONS IMPACTED BY THIS TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM INCLUDE
SUTTONS CORNER...BELLVILLE...AYCOCK MILL...CORDRAYS MILL...MOYE...
CARNEGIE...DICKEY...JONES CROSSING AND ZETTO.

According to a 2008 study lead by Walker Ashley from Northern Illinois University, overnight tornadoes are 2.5 times more likely to claim lives as those during the daytime. 

Despite comprising only 27.3 percent of all tornadoes from 1950-2005, Ashley et al. found these nighttime tornadoes were reponsible for 39.3 percent of tornado fatalities in that period.

(MORE: Nocturnal Tornadoes Particularly Deadly)

Elsewhere, there were roughly 55 reports of severe weather Wednesday, mainly damaging straight winds, but also of large hail up to golfball size in Cartersville, Georgia, northwest of Atlanta.

Earlier in the day, strong winds knocked down a tractor shed in Gadsden, Tennessee. Gusty winds also peeled off the shingles from a couple of homes in Medina, Tennessee.

A stray severe thunderstorm is still possible Thursday from southeast Virginia into the eastern Carolinas, but despite April's notoriously tornadic reputation, the severe threat will remain rather low.

Snapped An Awesome Shot? Share Your Photo!

If you crave pictures of severe weather, you've found your home here. Upload your photos or video (taking care to only take photos and videos from a safe location) to us and share your experience!

(PHOTO/VIDEO GALLERIES: Severe | Storms)

PHOTOS: Severe Weather and Flooding March 30-April 1, 2016