PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. — When 13WMAZ was at the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City three weeks ago, Meteorologist-in-Charge Keith Stellman remarked that there was something unusual about the tornado tracks in Pike and Spalding Counties.
Now that a reanalysis with high-resolution aerial data and lower-level radar data is complete, Stellman's hunch was correct.
The tornadoes of January 12 produced fourteen tornadoes in the area that the Peachtree City office covers. 4 of which were on the ground - at the same time - within a larger circulation.
The larger vortex the tornadoes were apart of was not a tornado itself. Rather, it was about 2 miles wide and spun the individual tornadoes in Pike and Spalding Counties around in unusual tracks.
The larger circulation also caused three tornado mergers. That's right, in three separate instances, one tornado absorbed another on January 12.
After each merger, the reanalysis recognized that near and shortly after the mergers, damage increased.
Radar data also revealed that the EF-3 tornado that struck Griffin, which was part of the larger circulation, had peak wind speeds of 155 mph. That makes the tornado a high-end EF-3.
Looking back at the data, they also believe this tornado pivot and merge phenomenon has also occurred in Wilcox County. It could have also taken place in another cycle as the storm moved into Henry, Butts, Newton and Jasper Counties. However, without the same high-resolution aerial data and lower-level radar data, they were unable to complete a similar reanalysis.
Lower-level radar data was available in Spalding and Pike Counties because of its proximity to Peachtree City, the closest radar site.
In total, the National Weather Service concludes 14 tornadoes touched down on Jan. 12 – including 10 that occurred from this same main circulation. There was 1 EF-3, 5 EF-2s, 7 EF-1s, and 1 EF-0 tornado. In addition, they increased the maximum wind speeds for the EF-3 tornado in Spalding County to 155 mph, the high-end EF-3.