Alert archive / Georgia / Tornado Warnings in 2002
Tornado Warning 11, NWS Charleston, SC
NWS Charleston, SC issued this tornado warning at Dec 24, 2002, 11:43 AM EST for McIntosh County, Georgia. It was in force for 47 min. 1 report 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
- Dec 24, 2002, 11:43 AM EST (16:43 UTC)
- Expired
- Dec 24, 2002, 12:30 PM EST
- In force
- 47 min
- Issued by
- NWS Charleston, SC
- Area
- Whole counties
County McIntosh County, GA
The radar
The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 115 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:45 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 24, 12:15 PM EST | Thunderstorm Wind 52 E | Countywide, GA | Numerous trees, large limbs, and power lines were down across the county. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 24, 9:20 AM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), launched 12:00Z, 4.7 hours before the alert went out and 114 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
- 101 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -110 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 495 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 53 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 251 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 285 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.9
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
541 WFUS52 KCHS 241643 TORCHS GAC191-241730- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC 1145 AM EST TUE DEC 24 2002 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... MCINTOSH COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST GEORGIA... * UNTIL 1230 PM EST * AT 1142 AM EST...RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 9 MILES WEST OF COX...OR ABOUT 13 MILES SOUTHEAST OF JESUP...MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH. * SOME LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE... COX. TOWNSEND... EULONIA... MERIDIAN. CARNIGAN... VALONA. SAPELO ISLAND... IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IN A HOME OR BUSINESS IS AN INTERIOR ROOM OR HALLWAY ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE. AVOID WINDOWS. $$
The office that day
Everything else NWS Charleston, SC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 24, 10:34 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CHS | Candler | 41 min |
| Dec 24, 10:47 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CHS | Tattnall | 43 min |
| Dec 24, 10:49 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CHS | Tattnall | 41 min |
| Dec 24, 11:00 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CHS | Bulloch, Evans | 45 min |
| Dec 24, 11:20 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CHS | Liberty, Long, Tattnall | 40 min |
| Dec 24, 11:31 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CHS | Bryan, Effingham | 44 min |
| Dec 24, 12:14 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CHS | Chatham, Liberty | 31 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Georgia, 2002Every tornado warning in 2002Tornadoes in 2002
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.