Alert archive / Georgia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1986

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 60, NWS Atlanta, GA

July 23, 1986Ben Hill County, Irwin County, Georgia

NWS Atlanta, GA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 23, 1986, 6:40 PM EDT for Ben Hill County, Irwin County, Georgia. It was in force for 55 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
Jul 23, 1986, 6:40 PM EDT (22:40 UTC)
Expired
Jul 23, 1986, 7:35 PM EDT
In force
55 min
Issued by
NWS Atlanta, GA
Area
Whole counties

Counties Ben Hill County, GA, Irwin County, GA

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jul 23, 7:10 PM EDTThunderstorm Wind 0Irwin, GA
Jul 23, 7:10 PM EDTThunderstorm Wind 0Ben Hill, GA

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Jacksonville, FL (KAYS), launched 12:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 197 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jacksonville, FL at 12:00Z on 1986-07-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Jacksonville, FL at 12:00Z on 1986-07-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 2 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1297 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
19 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KMCN 232309
SVRMCN
GAC155-017-240000-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MACON GA
640 PM EDT WED JUL 23 1986

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 800 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES OF

CENTRAL GEORGIA...IRWIN AND BEN HILL

AT 640 PM WEATHER SERVICE RADAR IN MACON SHOWED A POSSIBLE
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM JUST EAST OF FITZGERALD MOVING SOUTHWEST.
8
DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 23, 1:09 PM EDT, 5 hours 31 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ATHENS GEORGIA.
1310 PM EDT WED JUL 23 1986

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON OVER THE MOUNTAINS
OF NORTHEAST GEORGIA.

PERSONS IN AREAS WHERE THUNDERSTORMS OCCUR CAN EXPECT HEAVY RAIN...GUSTY
WINDS AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING. TAKE SHELTER IF THREATENING WEATHER
APPROACHES. DRIVERS SHOULD USE CAUTION AS SUDDEN DOWNPOURS WILL CAUSE
EXTREMELY REDUCED VISIBILITIES AND PONDING OF WATER ON ROADWAYS. HEAVY
RAIN MAY ALSO PRODUCE SOME MINOR SMALL STREAM OR URBAN FLOODING.
Special weather statement, Jul 23, 1:12 PM EDT, 5 hours 28 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ATHENS GEORGIA.
110 PM EDT WED JUL 23 1986

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON OVER THE MOUNTAINS
OF NORTHEAST GEORGIA.

PERSONS IN AREAS WHERE THUNDERSTORMS OCCUR CAN EXPECT HEAVY RAIN...GUSTY
WINDS AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING. TAKE SHELTER IF THREATENING WEATHER
APPROACHES. DRIVERS SHOULD USE CAUTION AS SUDDEN DOWNPOURS WILL CAUSE
EXTREMELY REDUCED VISIBILITIES AND PONDING OF WATER ON ROADWAYS. HEAVY
RAIN MAY ALSO PRODUCE SOME MINOR SMALL STREAM OR URBAN FLOODING.
Special weather statement, Jul 23, 5:39 PM EDT, 1 hour 1 minute before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ATHENS GEORGIA
530 PM EDT WED JUL 23 1986

A BAND OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDS ACROSS NORTHEAST GEORGIA
FROM THE NORTHERN PORTION OF CLARK HILL RESERVOIR TO JUST NORTH
OF ATHENS AND TO NEAR DAHLONEGA. THESE STORMS ARE CAPABLE OF
PRODUCING HEAVY RAINS, STRONG GUSTY WINDS, DANGEROUS LIGHTNING
AND POSSIBLY SOME SMALL HAIL. LITTLE MOVEMENT WAS INDICATED.

OTHER STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED FROM NEAR THOMASTON TO
THE ATLANTA AREA.

ELSEWHERE...ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE OCCURRING OVER
THE NORTHERN HALF OF GEORGIA, EASTERN ALABAMA, SOUTHEAST TENNESSEE
AND THE WESTERN CAROLINAS.

LITTLE MOVEMENT WAS INDICATED.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Atlanta, GA issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 23, 6:05 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFFCDeKalb, Fulton55 min
Jul 23, 6:38 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFFCBibb67 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Georgia, 1986Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1986

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.