Alert archive / Georgia / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 22, NWS Atlanta, GA

November 21, 1997Schley County, Georgia

NWS Atlanta, GA issued this tornado warning at Nov 21, 1997, 9:01 PM EST for Schley County, Georgia. It was in force for 29 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: Nov 21, 1997, 9:01 PM EST (02:01 UTC)
Expired: Nov 21, 1997, 9:30 PM EST
In force: 29 min
Issued by: NWS Atlanta, GA
Area: Whole counties

County Schley County, GA

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Nov 21, 9:10 PM EST	Tornado F1	Ellaville, GA	A state of emergency was declared in Schley county where 103 people were displaced due to the storm. In Ellaville, 5 mobile homes were destroyed, 17 homes and 11 other mobile homes sustained minor to moderate damage, and 19 vehicles were damaged or destroyed.
Nov 21, 9:29 PM EST	Hail 0.75	Ellaville, 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Nov 21, 8:00 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 00:00Z, 2.0 hours before the alert went out and 124 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: 440 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -11 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 528 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 562 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 896 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 6.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KATL 220200 RRA
TORATL
GAC249-220230-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
901 PM EST FRI NOV 21 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PEACHTREE CITY HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  930 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN WEST CENTRAL GEORGIA
 
   ...SCHLEY COUNTY
 
AT 9 PM A TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY RADAR 7 MILES WEST OF ELLAVILLE.
MOVEMENT WAS TOWARD THE EAST AT 35 MPH.
 
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT. GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...GO TO AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS
A CLOSET OR BATHROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. AVOID WINDOWS. USE
BpLANKETS...PILLOWS...OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.
 
IF YOU EXPERIENCE STORM DAMAGE TO STRUCTURES OR TREES...OR HAIL THE
SIZE OF DIMES OR LARGER...PLEASE REPORT IT BY CALLING THE NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE AT 770-486-8535.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Nov 21, 8:20 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	FFC	DeKalb, Fulton	3 hr
Nov 21, 8:32 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Marion, Webster	43 min
Nov 21, 8:52 PM EST	Tornado Warning	FFC	Marion	33 min
Nov 21, 9:06 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Sumter	44 min
Nov 21, 9:27 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Macon	33 min
Nov 21, 9:29 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Webster	31 min
Nov 21, 11:15 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Houston	30 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Georgia, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes 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.