Episode narrative: A line of strong thunderstorms moved into north and central Georgia during the afternoon through the evening on Thursday, January 12th and spawned numerous tornadoes, including several that were long track and significant. Ahead of this line, a few supercells also spawned tornadoes in portions of central and eastern Georgia.  Upon further examination of radar data and high resolution areal imagery, it was found that several tornadoes rotated around and within a larger vortex and caused the widespread damage in the area near Griffin GA, over 2 miles wide in some cases.   The result was that as many as 4 tornadoes were on the ground simultaneously in SW Spalding County, which were rotating around the larger circulation, merging together in several cases and crossing paths. The presence of 3 mergers was identified in the reanalysis. Additional analysis revealed that wind speeds in the EF3 storm reached as high as 155mph or high end EF3.  This confirmed a total of 14 tornadoes, including 10 which resulted from the same storm/larger mesocyclone.

Tornado event in SPALDING County, GEORGIA
Start: 12-JAN-23 16:27:00
End: 12-JAN-23 16:35:00
Direct deaths: 1
Event narrative: Radar data, areal surveys and ground surveys confirm that a long track EF2 tornado occurred beginning a few miles east of Griffin GA through Butts, Newton and into Jasper counties. The tornado was part of a larger mesocyclone which can be traced west all the way back to the Selma Alabama tornado which spawned numerous tornadoes during its lifecycle. This particular tornado first touched down in an area around Crouch road and Wild Plum Road snapping and uprooting trees. The tornado struck a Rinai building causing damage to the roof, windows and outside walls. The tornado continued northeast snapping and uprooting trees quickly intensifying as it crossed hwy 19 becoming and EF2. Widespread tree damage was noted along S. McDonough Road and Walnut Grove Road north of Hwy 16. A well built home sustained significant roof and structure damage consistent with high end EF2 winds. The tornado continued northeast crossing High Falls Road, N. Walkers Mill Road, Yamacraw road snapping and uprooting trees consistent with EF1 damage. As the tornado continued northeast, it became the dominant circulation within the larger mesocyclone as the previous Griffin tornado began to occlude within the large circulation. The tornado crossed Jackson road and paralleled Jenkinsburg road before crossing I75 near Jenkinsburg Road. Snapped and uprooted trees were noted along both sides of I75 where the tornado crossed. As the storm became the dominant circulation within the mesocyclone, the wind field expanded and the damage became fairly consistent with high end EF1 to low EF2 thereafter. The tornado crossed Locust Road, Dean Patrick Road and England Chapel Road were numerous trees were snapped and uprooted. Some home damage was noted in the area as well, particularly as it approached Shiloah Road. Several homes were damaged along Plaza Dr and Smith Dr. The tornado continued NE crossing Hwy 23 striking a large warehouse. Severe roof and exterior wall damage was noted as debris was spread across the highway and to the NE of the hwy. As the tornado crossed the highway it struck a train on the tracks and overturned 3 rail cars just west Walter Moore Rd. The storm continued northeast crossing Wolf Creek Road snapping and uprooting trees near several homes consistent with EF1 wind damage. The tornado continued northeast crossing Rising Star Church road and Brown road snapping and uprooting trees. As the storm continued northeast beyond this point, the remnant circulation which last produced damage near Locust Grove regenerated a new tornado a little over a mile to the northwest along Fincherville Road. The two tornadoes would continue to the NE nearly parallel through the Jackson Lake area. This particular tornado continued northeast and would intensify to EF2 as it crossed Hwy 36 north of Keys Ferry Road and Haley Road. The fatality and critical injury directly associated with this tornado occurred along Haley Road when a tree fell onto a vehicle injuring the driver and fatally wounding a passenger. EF2 damage was noted East of hwy36 along Haley Road, Pocahontas St. Chickasaw lane and several neighborhoods along the lake. The tornado crossed into Southern Newton County causing severe damage along Parker Road, Ray Road, Malcom Rd, Quarry Ct, Pebble Ridge Dr, Hunters Trace, Campbell Rd and Hwy 212 as it entered Jasper County near the Franks Restaurant. EF1 to low end EF2 damage was intermittent along Yancy Rd, Dallas Tr, Gem Lane, Leeï¿½ï¿½ï¿½s Cove, Alcovy N. Dr, Rainbow Dr and County Line Road. The Bear Creek Marian was destroyed and several campers were destroyed. The storm continued NE crossing Henderson Mill Road snapping and uprooting trees, County line Trail and Hwy 11 before weakening and lifting as it approached Margery Lake. A second fatality was resulted the following day when a lineman was knocked out of a bucket truck in Jasper County after being struck by a large tree branch while attempting to restore powerlines. The fatality, is considered indirect but will be tied to this particular tornado. Widespread wind damage can be seen via areal survey and ground survey throughout northern Butts, Southern Newton and Western Jasper counties and surveying this particular storm was a challenge to discern where the tornado actually ended and where the severe wind damage started. The path width is an approximation based on the most severe damage swaths which were surveyed however, strong inflow winds occurred for much of the lifecycle of this tornado making a very wide swath of damage along its 30+ mile long path.