Tempesta Falls is a 76-foot waterfall on Tallulah River in Rabun County, Georgia, in the Blue Ridge region. It lies about 9.6 miles south of Clayton and roughly 53.8 miles north of Athens as the crow flies.
At 76 feet it stands in the tallest quarter of Georgia’s 80 waterfalls with a recorded height, ranking 19th; the typical Georgia waterfall is about 44.5 feet. By form it is a horsetail, where the water keeps some contact with the bedrock as it falls.
The Blue Ridge is the highest part of the southern Appalachians, a range of forested peaks and coves with oak, hickory, tulip poplar and hemlock and spruce-fir on the summits, in one of the wettest climates in the East. Steep mountain streams drop over granite, gneiss and quartzite ledges, giving the region hundreds of waterfalls. Tallulah River carries 5 recorded waterfalls, and Tempesta Falls is the tallest of them.
Rabun County holds 91 recorded waterfalls, and several are close by. L’Eau d’Or Falls, a 46-foot tiered horsetail waterfall, is under a mile away. Hurricane Falls, is under a mile away. Calidonia Cascade, a 600-foot horsetail waterfall, is under a mile away.
Tempesta Falls is located at 34.7390° N, 83.3926° W. The listing is based on the World Waterfall Database, one of the sources compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey in its inventory of waterfalls and rapids of the conterminous United States. The creek name is confirmed against the federal Geographic Names Information System. The position was verified on aerial imagery. Details on trails, parking and access have not been documented for this waterfall yet.