Athens Georgia GA Tornado Appears out of Nowhere

[foilseal]

no, it's el nino or possibly bigfoot

[ilikstikz7804]

happened to me before like FujiiwaraMichiyo said,it was a microburst.mine was so bad i swear i could see my dad's heavy van rock!

[burlington5051053]

I live in Oconee Couty and about 9 or 10 months ago we got POUNDED WITH A HHHHHUUUUGGGGGEEEEEE tornado. Sirens were going off and the wind was so strong it took a tree outside of my house out of its roots and slung it out into the lake.... in georgia we rarely see tornadoes but when we do THEY'RE VICIOUS!

[FireFlamesrocks]

@burlington5051053 Exactly! i also live in oconee, and this year we kept getting hit with supercells!

[FujiiwaraMichiyo]

Microburst...that is what this is. Downburst of winds from a thunderstorm that can be confused with tornadoes. They are wide spread and winds can get up to 100mph in some cases. No tornado here. Just rain and wind.

[hotmoffitt]

What causes a microburst to happen? And how does it all show up at once, with zero buildup - in other words, why didn't it cause the air already around us to start moving until it was literally on top of us? It seems like there would have been some sort of gradual increase in wind speed or something right before the wall hit us. Thanks for the info!

[FujiiwaraMichiyo]

@hotmoffitt Microbursts happen when a thunderstorm is dying, it's a huge downburst of wind that can occur without warning and last for minutes instead of seconds like tornado.

[EntropicMisanthropic]

@hotmoffitt Supercell thunderstorms tend to be either inflow or outflow dominant depending on their stage of development. Early on they suck in lots of air from one area of the storm, which can cause tornadoes, and are "inflow dominant". When they switch over (for whatever reason) and start dumping all that air out the back end (rear flank) of the storm, they become "outflow dominant" and tend to lose their steam pretty quickly. That dumping is what causes these sudden straight line microbursts.

[BillyWalsh82]

were the tornado sirens on during this? if any circulation at all is detected, they will sound them.

[halftimesportscards]

I lived in Athens for about 15 years, and only experienced 1 or 2. It's not often. This just looks like a neat wave coming through. But Oconee County just took a big hit today, and that's the county just to the west. It was a tornado. I got word from my old step-father's brother. It missed his house by a half mile and took out his neighbor's chicken house. I wish he had a camera for that one.

[jahnay6]

is there always tornadoes in athens ga as a matter of question in all georgia? i live in ny thanx