Alert archive / Georgia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 46, NWS Atlanta, GA

May 4, 1988Hancock County, Georgia

NWS Atlanta, GA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 4, 1988, 6:15 PM EDT for Hancock County, Georgia. It was in force for 45 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 4, 1988, 6:15 PM EDT (22:15 UTC)
Expired
May 4, 1988, 7:00 PM EDT
In force
45 min
Issued by
NWS Atlanta, GA
Area
Whole counties

County Hancock County, GA

The radar

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

The nearest sounding before it

Athens Municipal, GA (KAHN), launched 12:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 81 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, Athens Municipal, GA at 12:00Z on 1988-05-04Temperature 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, Athens Municipal, GA at 12:00Z on 1988-05-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 167 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
1324 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
167 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
140 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 KAGS 042217
SVRAGS
GAC141-042300-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUGUSTA GA
615 PM EDT WED MAY 4 1988
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AUGUSTA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  700 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL GEORGIA
          ...HANCOCK
 
AT 610 PM WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IN SOUTHWEST
HANCOCK COUNTY. THIS STORM IS MOVING TO THE EAST AT 35 MPH.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

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, May 4, 5:58 PM EDT, 17 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ATHENS GA
600 PM EDT WED MAY 4 1988

AT 550 PM EDT RADAR INDICATED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS IN MADISON AND
ELBERT COUNTIES OF NORTHEAST GEORGIA. HALF INCH HAIL WAS REPORTED
IN ELBERTON GEORGIA AT 545 PM EDT. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE
MOVING TO THE EAST AT 35 MILES AN HOUR.

ALSO A STRONG THUNDERSTORM HAS DEVELOPED ALONG THE GREENE AND OCONEE
COUNTY LINE. THIS STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL BE MOVING INTO OGLETHORPE
COUNTY WITHIN THE HOUR.

PERSONS IN THE ABOVE MENTIONED COUNTIES OF NORTHEAST GEORGIA
CAN EXPECT BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL...STRONG GUSTY WINDS AND
HAIL AS THIS STRONG THUNDERSTORM MOVES ACROSS THE AREA WITHIN THE HOUR.

OTHER STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THE REMAINDER OF THIS AFTERNOON
AND EARLY EVENING AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT THAT WILL BE MOVING ACROSS
NORTHEAST GEORGIA THIS EVENING.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 4, 7:52 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFFCLincoln53 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Georgia, 1988Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1988

Sources

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