Alert archive / Georgia / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 17, NWS Tallahassee, FL

March 15, 2001Decatur County, Grady County, Georgia

NWS Tallahassee, FL issued this tornado warning at Mar 15, 2001, 6:04 AM EST for Decatur County, Grady County, Georgia. It was in force for 41 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: Mar 15, 2001, 6:04 AM EST (11:04 UTC)
Expired: Mar 15, 2001, 6:45 AM EST
In force: 41 min
Issued by: NWS Tallahassee, FL
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties Decatur County, GA, Grady County, GA

The radar

The Tallahassee radar (KTLH), 53 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 11:05 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
Mar 15, 6:10 AM EST	Tornado F2	Climax, GA	An F2 tornado touched down on Fewell Road in the Bell Dixon Community and tracked northeast into western Grady County. Debris was scattered over a wide area. Four persons were injured, one critically. Five homes sustained roof and window damage. Numerous t
Mar 15, 6:11 AM EST	Tornado F2	Whigham, GA	The F2 tornado raced northeast from just southeast of Climax in Decatur County to just southeast of Whigham in Grady County, then dissipated. Nine persons were injured, one critically. Ten homes were damaged and two homes destroyed on Piney Grove Road four m

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
Mar 15, 2:30 AM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), launched 00:00Z, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 53 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 2174 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 57 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 105 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 231 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.

568 
WFUS52 KTAE 151104
TORTLH
GAC087-131-151145-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
604 AM EST THU MAR 15 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TALLAHASSEE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  EAST CENTRAL DECATUR COUNTY IN GEORGIA
  CENTRAL GRADY COUNTY IN GEORGIA
  THIS INCLUDES CAIRO...

* UNTIL 645 AM EST...

* AT 600 AM EST NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  DEVELOPING TORNADO 13 MILES SOUTHWEST OF WHIGHAM...OR ABOUT 9 MILES
  SOUTHEAST OF BAINBRIDGE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  WHIGHAM BY 615 AM EST...
  CAIRO BY 620 AM EST...

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 AM EST THURSDAY MORNING
FOR ALABAMA AND FLORIDA AND GEORGIA.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO...ABANDON YOUR MOBILE HOME FOR
A REINFORCED SHELTER.

LAT...LON 3084 8459 3075 8452 3084 8411 3107 8419

.END

12-WATSON

The office that day

Everything else NWS Tallahassee, FL issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 15, 5:05 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Calhoun, Dougherty	25 min
Mar 15, 5:19 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Decatur, Miller, Seminole	41 min
Mar 15, 5:29 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Baker, Mitchell	46 min
Mar 15, 5:59 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Decatur, Grady	46 min
Mar 15, 8:02 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Thomas	28 min
Mar 15, 8:21 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Brooks, Colquitt, Cook	24 min
Mar 15, 8:45 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Brooks, Cook, Lowndes	30 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Georgia, 2001 Every tornado warning in 2001 Tornadoes in 2001

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.