Alert archive / Georgia / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Atlanta, GA

April 3, 2000Cherokee County, Forsyth County, Fulton County, Georgia

NWS Atlanta, GA issued this tornado warning at Apr 3, 2000, 2:57 AM EDT for Cherokee County, Forsyth County, Fulton County, Georgia. It was in force for 33 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Apr 3, 2000, 2:57 AM EDT (06:57 UTC)
Expired: Apr 3, 2000, 3:30 AM EDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Atlanta, GA
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties Cherokee County, GA, Forsyth County, GA, Fulton County, GA

The radar

The Atlanta radar (KFFC), 94 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:58 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
Apr 3, 3:00 AM EDT	Tornado F1	Hickory Flat, GA	A survey by the Cherokee County Emergency Management Agency and a National Weather Service Disaster Survey Team showed that an F0 - F1 tornado traveled along a path almost 7 miles long through southeast Cherokee county. The damage path began just west of the i
Apr 3, 3:25 AM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50 EG	Cumming, GA	The public reported trees down in the Cumming area. Marble size hail and winds estimated at 50 mph were also reported.

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
Apr 3, 12:00 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 7.0 hours before the alert went out and 254 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: 430 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -57 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 982 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 81 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 851 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 851 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.3
Supercell composite: 21.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS52 KFFC 030658
TORATL
GAC057-117-121-030730-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
257 AM EDT MON APR 3 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PEACHTREE CITY HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHEASTERN CHEROKEE COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL GEORGIA
  FORSYTH COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL GEORGIA
  NORTHEASTERN FULTON COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL GEORGIA

* UNTIL 330 AM EDT

* AT 257 AM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM WITH A TORNADO 12 MILES NORTH OF ROSWELL...OR ABOUT 5
  MILES SOUTHEAST OF CANTON...MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.

* OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE CUMMING AND
  ALPHARETTA

TORNADOES AT NIGHT ARE ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU
SEE OR HEAR THE TORNADO...IT MAY BE TOO LATE. TAKE COVER NOW!

LAT...LON 3430 8448 3412 8449 3395 8435 3411 8409
          3433 8398

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 2, 11:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Bartow, Polk	27 min
Apr 3, 1:47 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Floyd, Polk	28 min
Apr 3, 2:19 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	FFC	Bartow, Floyd, Paulding, Polk	56 min
Apr 3, 2:48 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton	27 min
Apr 3, 3:22 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	FFC	Dawson, Forsyth, Hall, Lumpkin	38 min
Apr 3, 3:36 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Meriwether, Pike, Spalding	24 min
Apr 3, 3:36 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Fayette	24 min
Apr 3, 3:36 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Lamar	24 min
Apr 3, 3:50 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Upson	25 min
Apr 3, 3:55 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Banks, Hall, Jackson, White	35 min
Apr 3, 4:08 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Butts, Jasper, Lamar, Monroe, Spalding	52 min
Apr 3, 4:08 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Jones	52 min
Apr 3, 4:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Haralson, Polk	29 min
Apr 3, 6:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Cobb, Paulding	36 min
Apr 3, 6:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Bartow, Cherokee	30 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Georgia, 2000 Every tornado warning in 2000 Tornadoes in 2000

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.