NORTH ATLANTA -- Springtime across Georgia can be as deadly as it is beautiful as the mix of cold and warm air circulate to form tornado season.

A deadly string of tornadoes on April 27 killed over 160 from Alabama into north Georgia, and stands as a reminder of how quickly the wind funnels can form and their damage to both life and home.

Meteorologists at 11Alive and across the country look to the severe storms office at the National Weather Service for new watches and warnings based on the Doppler radar, and from eyewitness reports from several who chase a newly formed tornado.

They are known as storm chasers, and a few have become well know on the popular show on Discovery Channel, Storm Chasers.

Marcus Gutierrez is one of those well known storm chasers.

This reporter stood with Marcus near the Tornado Intercept Vehicle 2 in north Atlanta -- a heavily armored science vehicle in which he drives in the program.

ATLANTA -- At least one tornado, along with severe storms, ripped through parts of Metro Atlanta Monday, damaging dozens of homes and claiming the life of a Gwinnett County man.

Surveyers from the National Weather Service said a long-tracked EF1 tornado touched down in Woodstock and moved northward some 24 miles before lifting at Ball Ground. Officials said the twister clocked winds at about 90 mph, and at its widest was a quarter-mile wide. Most tornadoes associated with tropical systems like Lee produce very short touchdowns.

Officials said about 400 structures had been affected, and that it was the fifth tornado in Cherokee County over the past four years. County officials said they were lucky that it struck on the holiday with school out of session. School buses would have been on the roads were the storm to happen on a school day.

ATLANTA -- Georgia's state climatologist says extreme drought conditions have now spread into North Georgia and cover most of the state south of the mountains.

Climatologist David Stooksbury says all of Georgia's counties are now classified as being in moderate, severe or extreme drought.

In his most recent reports on the drought, Stooksbury said the outlook for relief in the short-term is not promising. Unless Georgia sees some tropical weather over the next few months, the state can expect below-normal rainfall and above-normal temperatures.

Without tropical rain, Georgia's soil is expected to continue to dry out. Stream flows, groundwater levels and reservoir levels are expected to continue to drop, and wildfire potentials are expected to remain high to extreme.