Alert archive / Georgia / Tornado Watches in 1998
Tornado Watch 247
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 18, 1998, 8:45 PM EDT for 64 counties in Georgia; 10 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Apr 18, 1998, 8:45 PM EDT (00:45 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 19, 1998, 3:00 AM EDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 74 counties
Banks County, GA, Barrow County, GA, Bartow County, GA, Burke County, GA, Butts County, GA, Carroll County, GA, Catoosa County, GA, Chattooga County, GA, Cherokee County, GA, Clarke County, GA, Clayton County, GA, Cobb County, GA, Columbia County, GA, Coweta County, GA, Dawson County, GA, DeKalb County, GA, Douglas County, GA, Elbert County, GA, Fannin County, GA, Fayette County, GA, Floyd County, GA, Forsyth County, GA, Franklin County, GA, Fulton County, GA, Gilmer County, GA, Glascock County, GA, Gordon County, GA, Greene County, GA, Gwinnett County, GA, Habersham County, GA, Hall County, GA, Hancock County, GA, Haralson County, GA, Hart County, GA, Henry County, GA, Jackson County, GA, Jasper County, GA, Jefferson County, GA, Lincoln County, GA, Lumpkin County, GA, Madison County, GA, McDuffie County, GA, Morgan County, GA, Murray County, GA, Newton County, GA, Oconee County, GA, Oglethorpe County, GA, Paulding County, GA, Pickens County, GA, Polk County, GA, Putnam County, GA, Richmond County, GA, Rockdale County, GA, Spalding County, GA, Stephens County, GA, Taliaferro County, GA, Towns County, GA, Union County, GA, Walker County, GA, Walton County, GA, Warren County, GA, White County, GA, Whitfield County, GA, Wilkes County, GA, Abbeville County, SC, Aiken County, SC, Anderson County, SC, Edgefield County, SC, Greenwood County, SC, Laurens County, SC, McCormick County, SC, Newberry County, SC, Oconee County, SC, Saluda County, SC
The radar
The Atlanta radar (KFFC), 115 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:48 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.
Warnings issued inside it
6 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 18, 8:50 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | FFC | Catoosa, Walker | 50 min |
| Apr 18, 9:40 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | FFC | Walker, Whitfield | 35 min |
| Apr 18, 10:16 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | FFC | Floyd | 34 min |
| Apr 18, 10:50 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FFC | Gordon | 35 min |
| Apr 18, 11:03 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | FFC | Gordon | 32 min |
| Apr 18, 11:54 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | FFC | Whitfield | 2 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 00:00Z, 0.8 hours before the alert went out and 111 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
- 589 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -8 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1082 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 79 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 160 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 280 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.7
- Supercell composite
- 4.5
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
048 WWUS9 KMKC 190018 SEL7 MKC WW 190018 GAZ000-SCZ000-190700- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 247 STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 818 PM EDT SAT APR 18 1998 THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHERN GEORGIA WESTERN SOUTH CAROLINA EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING FROM 845 PM UNTIL 300 AM EDT. TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS. THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 60 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 20 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF ROME GEORGIA TO 40 MILES NORTHEAST OF AUGUSTA GEORGIA. REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. OTHER WATCH INFORMATION... CONTINUE...WW 246... DISCUSSION...SURFACE WARM FRONT EXTENDS FROM NERN AL ACROSS NRN GA TO THE SC COAST. AIRMASS S OF FRONT IS MODERATELY UNSTABLE WITH SURFACE-BASED CAPE VALUES TO 2000 J/KG. 00Z SOUNDINGS AND WSR-88DS INDICATE STORM-RELATIVE HELICITY VALUES APPROACHING 400 M2/S2. THUNDERSTORMS WERE DEVELOPING ALONG WARM FRONT WITH ADDITIONAL STORMS OVER AL EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO WW DURING NEXT FEW HOURS. INSTABILITY AND SHEAR WERE COMBINING TO PRODUCE AN ENVIRONMENT CONDUCIVE FOR SUPERCELL DEVELOPMENT WITH ISOLATED TORNADOES. AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 450. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 21040. ...HOVIS 350,0852 343,0812 325,0812 332,0852
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 19, 3:30 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Columbia, Lincoln, McDuffie, Warren | 6 hr |
| Apr 19, 3:00 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | York | 6 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Georgia, 1998Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 1998Every tornado watch in 1998
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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.