On the afternoon of March 3, 2019, a violent and long-tracked EF4 tornado struck portions of eastern Alabama and western Georgia, causing extreme damage along its path.

[5] The tornado first touched down at 2:00 p.m. CST (3:00 p.m. EST) near Society Hill, Alabama, and stayed on the ground for 76 minutes over a 68.6 miles (110.4 km) path,[1][2] ravaging numerous homes and businesses, as well as doing significant tree damage.

[7] The confidence in the forecasts continued to grow on a potential for several tornadoes, some being strong over a small corridor of Southern and Eastern Alabama and Central Georgia, where they issued an enhanced risk (level 3 out of 5).

The SPC maintained an enhanced risk through day 1, and expanding in all directions to include a larger area.

[8] The 12z surface analysis indicated that a broad area of low pressure was located over the far western Carolinas.

There, a surface low carrying a powerful cold front with arctic air and wintry weather southward.

[9] Significant convective available potential energy (CAPE) was noted offshore in the 12z SPC mesoanalysis.

Combined with strong 0–6 km bulk shear of about 50 knots (58 mph) and Storm Relative Helicity of 300-500 m2/s2, the environment was more than favorable for the development of semi-discrete supercells within a squall line capable of producing several potentially strong tornadoes.

[11] Nearly 2 hours later, the SPC issued a tornado watch for Southern Alabama into Northwest Florida.

[7] Significant tornado parameters[note 2] increased along the line where the embedded discrete supercell was located was consistently at a 3 to a 4.

In addition, a local increase of storm relative helicity to 600 also aided in the development in the strong tornado.

The SPC noted that the shear and CAPE were maximized, and that strong tornadogenesis will likely occur "within the next 30-60 minutes".

A small church had its doors blown in, the roof removed, and a quarter of the cinder block walls were collapsed.

The tornado intensified as it moved east towards County Road 11, snapping and debarking tree trunks.

A car was mangled beyond recognition, and the frame was wrapped around the stub of a snapped and debarked tree.

The storm crossed County Road 39 slightly weaker but still producing significant damage to numerous homes and trees in the area.

Here, a double-wide manufactured home was moved off of its base and the exterior walls collapsed on a family residence.

The tornado crossed nearby County Road 38, entering a heavily wooded area, causing significant tree damage.

It then crossed County Road 166, demolishing several manufactured homes in that area and continuing to produce significant tree damage.

It reached County Road 175, where a home suffered significant loss of roofing, and trees were snapped at the trunks.

The tornado weakened as it crossed County Road 240, where damage to homes and trees continued.

The tornado approached the Chattahoochee River, where it caused roof damage to a few homes in that area.

At 3:29 PM EST after crossing the river, the tornado continued moving quickly to the east-northeast, causing a wide swath of trees being uprooted or snapped near the base of the ground.

At 3:39 PM EST the tornado crossed Highway 27 and caused a swath of EF3 damage to pine trees, and toppled a cellular tower.

A wide swath of hundreds of snapped and uprooted trees persisted along this portion of the track to the south and west of Ellerslie, Georgia.

Minor roof damage was reported on several homes along the path in this rural area of Georgia.

EF2 damage continued to be reported in this location, with dozens of softwood trees being snapped at their bases.

EF1 wind damage was found consistently through forested areas in and around Hwy 315, along Callier Rd, O'Neal Rd, and Mitchell Rd.

It caused high-end EF2 damage in this area with several manufactured homes turned over and destroyed, sometimes mangled.