Alert archive / Georgia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 124, NWS Atlanta, GA

April 20, 1996DeKalb County, Fulton County, Georgia

NWS Atlanta, GA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 20, 1996, 3:37 PM EDT for DeKalb County, Fulton County, Georgia. It was in force for 53 min. 1 report 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: Apr 20, 1996, 3:37 PM EDT (19:37 UTC)
Expired: Apr 20, 1996, 4:30 PM EDT
In force: 53 min
Issued by: NWS Atlanta, GA
Area: Whole counties

Counties DeKalb County, GA, Fulton County, GA

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Apr 20, 3:45 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Atlanta, 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 7.6 hours before the alert went out and 48 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 109 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -165 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 680 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 177 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 227 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 KATL 201937
SVRATL
GAC089-121-202030-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
337 PM EDT SAT APR 20 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PEACHTREE CITY HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  430 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN NORTHWEST GEORGIA
 
   ...DE KALB COUNTY...FULTON COUNTY
 
AT 335 PM EDT DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ALONG
I-285 AT THE COBB-FULTON COUNTY LINE...JUST SOUTH OF MARIETTA.
THE STORM WAS MOVING TO THE EAST-SOUTHEAST AT 40 MILES AN HOUR.
 
A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA.  REMEMBER
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES
WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.  REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO
RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.

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, Apr 20, 11:52 AM EDT, 3 hours 45 minutes before

GAZ001>009-011>016-019>025-027-030>039-041>062-066>076-078>086-
091>098-103>113-202200-

NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
1130 AM EDT SAT APR 20 1996

A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR EXTREME NORTH GEORGIA UNTIL 3 PM.
THUNDERSTORMS HAVE MOVED INTO THAT AREA AND SOME OF THESE STORMS
HAVE BEEN SEVERE.

WARM MOIST AIR OVER GEORGIA COMBINED WITH AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE
WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON. RESIDENTS OF
EXTREME NORTH GEORGIA SHOULD BE ALERT FOR STRONG GUSTY WINDS...LARGE
HAIL AND HEAVY DOWNPOURS. ELSEWHERE ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF NORTH AND
CENTRAL GEORGIA THIS AFTERNOON...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED
TO DEVELOP IN THE UNSTABLE AIR.

SPOTTER GROUPS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IN EXTREME NORTH
GEORGIA SHOULD MONITOR LOCAL WEATHER CONDITIONS AND BE READY FOR
POSSIBLE ACTIVATION TODAY.

Local storm report, Apr 20, 12:33 PM EDT, 3 hours 4 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
1230 PM EDT SAT APR 20 1996

TIME         COUNTY       EVENT

12 NOON       DADE        SEVERE THUNDERSTORM...DIME SIZE HAIL REPORTED
    V                                            AT THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE
                                                IN TRENTON, GA.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 20, 10:08 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Catoosa, Dade, Walker, Whitfield	52 min
Apr 20, 11:44 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Catoosa, Dade, Walker	31 min
Apr 20, 2:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Floyd, Polk	50 min
Apr 20, 2:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Bartow, Paulding	53 min
Apr 20, 3:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Carroll	43 min
Apr 20, 3:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Cherokee, Cobb	47 min
Apr 20, 3:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Gwinnett	45 min
Apr 20, 3:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Clayton, Coweta, Fayette	49 min
Apr 20, 6:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Houston, Twiggs	27 min
Apr 20, 6:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Peach	35 min
Apr 20, 6:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Bleckley, Dodge, Laurens	52 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Georgia, 1996 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1996

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.