New study puts metro Atlanta in ‘Dixie Alley' for tornadoes

By Mike Morris

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A tornado that tore a nearly eight-mile-long swath through northwest Georgia last weekend hit in an area of the Southeast that a new study has dubbed the "Dixie Alley" for twisters.

The study, by Michael Frates, a graduate assistant at the University of Akron, analyzed the occurrence of strong F3 to F5 tornadoes with tracks greater than 20 miles from 1950 to 2006.

In the study, which was presented earlier this month at the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers in Washington, Frates concluded that Dixie Alley, an area stretching from eastern Texas across parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama into northeast Georgia and including most of metro Atlanta, had the greatest frequency of strong, long-track tornadoes.

Dixie Alley was followed closely by "Tornado Alley," an area that Frates defined as running from southern Oklahoma northward through Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Glenn Burns, chief meteorologist at WSB-TV, said he believes the frequency of  tornadoes across the Southeast coincides with a 25- to 30-year hurricane cycle.

"We are in a very active hurricane cycle and when hurricanes make landfall, they can and do spawn large numbers of tornadoes," Burns said. "We can see a couple of dozen tornadoes from a single tropical system here in Georgia."

The National Weather Service reports that from 1950 to 2008, Cobb and Hall counties recorded the most tornadoes in north Georgia, with 27 twisters in each county. Other metro Atlanta counties high on the list include Fulton, with 23 tornadoes during that period, Bartow with 22 and Cherokee and Carroll with 21 each.

Statewide, Worth County in southwest Georgia recorded 30 tornadoes between 1950 and 2008, while neighboring Colquitt County was struck by 28.

More than one-third of Georgia tornadoes are classified as "EF2″ or stronger on the Enhanced Fujita scale that ranks tornadoes from the weakest, an EF0, to strongest, an EF5, according to the Weather Service. Those strong storm are most likely to hit in April.

The tornado that struck early Sunday in Chattooga County was determined by the Weather Service to be an EF1.

The twister, which had winds estimated at 105 mph, touched down near the Alabama line north of Cloudland and traveled eastward, leaving a path of destruction about 300 yards wide.

The Weather Service reported that the twister damaged about a dozen homes and several sheds and garages, and downed hundreds of trees.

The tornado also hit a small airstrip, destroying one hangar and heavily damaging another, and flipping two airplanes.

No injuries were reported.