Remembering South Georgia’s deadliest day of tornados

It was Georgia’s third deadliest tornado outbreak in history when a line of thunderstorms unleashed tornadoes across the state and narrowly missing Jacksonville.

On Jan. 22, 2017, a severe line of storms swept through Adel and Albany, taking 16 lives, wiping out homes and destroying lives, making it the deadliest tornado outbreak in the southern half of the state.

The tornadoes hit at night, making them more deadly.

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Devastation from the extreme weather that tore through central Georgia down to North Florida

One EF1 tornado that day traveled 17 miles right through Camden County. The radar indicated a series of tornadoes south of Jacksonville, one which began in Clay County and traveled into St. Johns County.

Events like that typically don’t happen in January but tend to be reserved for the spring or fall severe storm season.

The severity of the event was so rare that the National Storm Prediction Center issued the first and only High Risk on record in the Florida peninsula. A storm risk scenario marking the most extreme potential for nontropical storms.