Alert archive / Georgia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 498, NWS Atlanta, GA
NWS Atlanta, GA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 25, 1997, 5:00 PM EDT for Fayette County, Pike County, Spalding County, Georgia. It was in force for 30 min. 3 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
- Oct 25, 1997, 5:00 PM EDT (21:00 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 25, 1997, 5:30 PM EDT
- In force
- 30 min
- Issued by
- NWS Atlanta, GA
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Fayette County, GA, Pike County, GA, Spalding County, GA
The radar
The Atlanta radar (KFFC), 20 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:00 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.
Open the radar archive at this moment
The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 25, 5:10 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 50 EG | Griffin, GA | Thunderstorm winds knocked down two trees at the Spalding county 911 communications center. |
| Oct 25, 5:15 PM EDT | Hail 0.75 | Brooks, GA | A HAM spotter reported dime size hail. |
| Oct 25, 5:25 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 50 EG | Hollonville, GA | Severe thunderstorm winds in the Hollonville and Williamson areas knocked trees down across roads and onto two houses, causing considerable damage. Pike county 911 reported several trees were knocked down on a mobile home northeast of Zebulon. |
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, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 16 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 989 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -3 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 489 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 47 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 162 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 191 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.8
- Supercell composite
- 3.7
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KATL 252104 RRA SVRATL GAC113-255-231-252130- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA 500 PM EDT SAT OCT 25 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PEACHTREE CITY HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 530 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN NORTHWEST GEORGIA ...FAYETTE COUNTY...SPALDING COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL GEORGIA ...PIKE COUNTY AT 458 PM WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWED A CLUSTER OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO WESTERN FAYETTE...SPALDING AND PIKE COUNTIES FROM NEAR PEACHTREE CITY TO SOUTH OF HOLLONVILLE. THESE STORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR. DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN...AND DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. STAY INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED. BOATERS, GOLFERS, AND OTHERS INVOLVED IN OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES SHOULD SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. IF YOU jEXPERIENCE STORM DAMAGE TO STRUCTURES OR TREES...OR HAIL THE SIZE OF DIMES OR LARGER...PLEASE REPORT IT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BY CALLING 770-486-8535.
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, Oct 25, 11:57 AM EDT, 5 hours 3 minutes before
GAZ001>009-011>016-019>025-027-030>039-041>062-066>076-078>086- 091>098-103>113-252200- NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA 1157 AM EDT SAT OCT 25 1997 THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA THIS AFTERNOON. THIS RISK AREA INCLUDES THE ATLANTA...ATHENS COLUMBUS...AND MACON AREAS. AN INTENSE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER THE SOUTHERN PLAINS IS DRAWING CONSIDERABLE MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO NORTHWARD OVER THE SOUTHEASTERN U.S. A FRONTAL BOUNDARY OVER EXTREME NORTH GEORGIA EARLY THIS AFTERNOON WILL ACT TO FOCUS STORMS THIS AFTERNOON AS IT DRIFTS SLOWLY SOUTHWARD. STORMS DEVELOPING WITH THE SYSTEM CAN PRODUCE HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS TO 60 MPH OR MORE. STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL WILL NEED TO MONITOR THE SITUATION THIS AFTERNOON FOR POSSIBLE ACTIVATION.
Special weather statement, Oct 25, 12:01 PM EDT, 4 hours 59 minutes before
GAZ001>009-011>016-019>025-027-030>039-041>062-066>076-078>086- 091>098-103>113-252200- NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA 1157 AM EDT SAT OCT 25 1997 THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA THIS AFTERNOON. THIS RISK AREA INCLUDES THE ATLANTA...ATHENS COLUMBUS...AND MACON AREAS. AN INTENSE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER THE SOUTHERN PLAINS IS DRAWING CONSIDERABLE MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO NORTHWARD OVER THE SOUTHEASTERN U.S. A FRONTAL BOUNDARY OVER EXTREME NORTH GEORGIA EARLY THIS AFTERNOON WILL ACT TO FOCUS STORMS THIS AFTERNOON AS IT DRIFTS SLOWLY SOUTHWARD. STORMS DEVELOPING WITH THE SYSTEM CAN PRODUCE HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS TO 60 MPH OR MORE. STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL WILL NEED TO MONITOR THE SITUATION THIS AFTERNOON FOR POSSIBLE ACTIVATION.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Atlanta, GA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 25, 4:55 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FFC | Catoosa | 35 min |
| Oct 25, 6:59 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FFC | Cherokee | 46 min |
| Oct 25, 7:25 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FFC | Forsyth | 50 min |
| Oct 25, 7:40 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FFC | Gwinnett, Hall | 35 min |
| Oct 25, 9:19 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FFC | Dade, Walker | 41 min |
| Oct 25, 10:36 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FFC | Gordon, Pickens | 54 min |
| Oct 25, 4:00 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FFC | Heard | 30 min |
| Oct 25, 4:24 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FFC | Coweta, Troup | 36 min |
| Oct 25, 4:45 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FFC | Meriwether | 30 min |
| Oct 25, 4:51 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | FFC | Meriwether | 24 min |
| Oct 25, 5:17 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FFC | Crisp | 43 min |
| Oct 25, 5:21 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | FFC | Pike | 24 min |
| Oct 25, 5:34 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FFC | Spalding | 26 min |
| Oct 25, 6:15 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FFC | Butts, Jasper | 45 min |
| Oct 25, 6:54 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FFC | Putnam | 36 min |
| Oct 25, 7:19 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FFC | Baldwin | 26 min |
| Oct 25, 7:44 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FFC | Baldwin, Hancock | 31 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Georgia, 1997Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1997
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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.