Alert archive / Georgia / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 70

April 3, 200239 counties in Georgia; 14 counties in South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Apr 3, 2002, 4:00 PM EST for 39 counties in Georgia; 14 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 3, 2002, 4:00 PM EST (21:00 UTC)
Expired: Apr 3, 2002, 9:00 PM EST
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 53 counties

Baldwin County, GA, Bibb County, GA, Bleckley County, GA, Burke County, GA, Columbia County, GA, Crawford County, GA, Dooly County, GA, Glascock County, GA, Greene County, GA, Hancock County, GA, Harris County, GA, Houston County, GA, Jasper County, GA, Jefferson County, GA, Jenkins County, GA, Johnson County, GA, Jones County, GA, Lamar County, GA, Lincoln County, GA, Macon County, GA, Marion County, GA, McDuffie County, GA, Monroe County, GA, Peach County, GA, Pike County, GA, Pulaski County, GA, Putnam County, GA, Richmond County, GA, Schley County, GA, Sumter County, GA, Talbot County, GA, Taliaferro County, GA, Taylor County, GA, Twiggs County, GA, Upson County, GA, Warren County, GA, Washington County, GA, Webster County, GA, Wilkinson County, GA, Aiken County, SC, Bamberg County, SC, Barnwell County, SC, Calhoun County, SC, Clarendon County, SC, Edgefield County, SC, Kershaw County, SC, Lee County, SC, Lexington County, SC, McCormick County, SC, Orangeburg County, SC, Richland County, SC, Saluda County, SC, Sumter County, SC

Warnings issued inside it

1 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 3, 4:18 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Columbia, McDuffie	42 min

The nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 143 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: 208 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -100 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1054 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 86 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 247 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 032103
SEL0  
SPC WW 032058
GAZ000-SCZ000-040200-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 70
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
358 PM EST WED APR 3 2002

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   CENTRAL GEORGIA                            
   THE SOUTH CAROLINA MIDLANDS                     

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 400 PM UNTIL
900 PM EST.

HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 70
MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 40 STATUTE MILES
EITHER SIDE OF A LINE FROM 70 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF MACON GEORGIA
TO 55 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF COLUMBIA SOUTH CAROLINA.

REMEMBER...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE
FAVORABLE FOR 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.  SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE
TORNADOES.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 69...

DISCUSSION...A FEW CLUSTERS/ANDS OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH THE
POTENTIAL FOR HAIL/LOCALLY DAMAGING WINDS EXPECTED THIS EVENING
OVER THE GA/SC PIEDMONT.  COVERGENCE ALONG FRONTAL SEGMENT ORIENTED
WSW/ENE EXPECTED TO INITIATE ACTIVITY...WITH LARGE SCALE
ASCENT/DRYING ALOFT /PER WV IMAGERY/ AND WARM BOUNDARY LAYER
SUPPORTIVE OF LOCALLY STRONG WIND GUSTS.   

AVIATION...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 500.  MEAN STORM
MOTION VECTOR 25035.

...CORFIDI

324,0850 344,0803 334,0795 314,0842

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Georgia, 2002 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in South Carolina, 2002 Every severe thunderstorm watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.