Candler-McAfee, GA Tornado History — 120 Tornadoes Since 1950
How many tornadoes has Candler-McAfee, GA had?
Candler-McAfee has had 120 tornadoes on record within 25 miles since 1950, including 6 violent (EF3+) tornadoes.
When was the most recent tornado near Candler-McAfee?
The most recent tornado within 25 miles of Candler-McAfee was an EF2 on May 29, 2025.
When is tornado season in Candler-McAfee?
March is historically the peak month for tornadoes near Candler-McAfee, with 18 on record. Spring through early summer (April–June) generally sees the highest activity across most of the central and southern United States.
At a Glance
Recent Tornado Activity Near Candler-McAfee
The last 20 years of confirmed tornadoes within 25 miles — 45 total, averaging 2.3 per year over this window.
Preliminary tornado reports near Candler-McAfee since December 29, 2025
These is a preliminary report, not confirmed tornadoes. It has not yet been through an NWS damage survey, and is not counted in the confirmed totals above.
Preliminary reports are revised, merged, and sometimes withdrawn — historically about 23% are consolidated downward once surveys complete. Ratings are omitted until a survey assigns one.
Confirmed records above are complete through December 29, 2025. NOAA publishes the confirmed archive annually, so tornadoes after that date appear here first and move into the totals above once finalized.
Within 25 miles of Candler-McAfee. Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center preliminary storm reports, updated daily.
Tornadoes by Decade
Tornadoes by Enhanced Fujita Rating
F0–F5 ratings (pre-2007) are grouped with their EF equivalents. The Enhanced Fujita scale replaced the original Fujita scale in February 2007.
Tornadoes by Month
Casualties on Record Near Candler-McAfee
10 fatalities have been recorded within 25 miles of Candler-McAfee since 1950, across 7 events. 461 injuries have been reported across all events. 1975 was the deadliest year on record.
The deadliest single event was a F3 on March 24, 1975, which caused 3 fatalities along a 14.8-mile track.
Notable Tornadoes Near Candler-McAfee
About Tornadoes in Candler-McAfee
This overview was written August 10, 2026. The tornado counts and notable-event figures elsewhere on this page reflect the latest data and may differ from this summary.
In central DeKalb County, just east of downtown Atlanta, the tornado history around Candler-McAfee stretches across generations of residents. Entries reach back to June 1950, when an F1 tornado injured a resident, and to December 5, 1954, when an F2 killed a person and injured 40 in the area. On Christmas Day of 1964 — December 25 — an F3 tornado tracked 75.4 miles through the region. The middle generations saw an F3 on January 10, 1972, an F2 on March 31, 1973 that killed 2 people and injured 100, and an F3 on March 24, 1975 that left 3 dead and 152 injured. Within living memory for younger residents is the F2 of April 9, 1998, which killed 1 person along its path. On March 15, 2008, an EF2 moved through the metro area, killing 1 person and injuring 30.
Durable meteorology underlies this multigenerational record. Georgia sits where humid air from the Gulf of Mexico streams north for much of the year, and when a vigorous cold front or a strong jet-stream disturbance crosses the state — typically in spring, though the December dates above show that winter carries risk here too — the clash can organize rotating thunderstorms. The gentle Piedmont hills around DeKalb County do little to disrupt such storms once they form. The NOAA Storm Prediction Center maintains the severe-weather archive from which these events are drawn, and the event list elsewhere on this page reflects that same archive.