Alert archive / Georgia / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Atlanta, GA

March 19, 2003Haralson County, Polk County, Georgia

NWS Atlanta, GA issued this tornado warning at Mar 19, 2003, 5:44 PM EST for Haralson County, Polk County, Georgia. It was in force for 46 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 19, 2003, 5:44 PM EST (22:44 UTC)
Expired: Mar 19, 2003, 6:30 PM EST
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Atlanta, GA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Haralson County, GA, Polk County, GA

The radar

The Atlanta radar (KFFC), 93 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:45 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.

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 19, 2:30 PM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 97 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: 21 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -267 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 479 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 417 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 730 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS52 KFFC 192244
TORATL
GAC143-233-192330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
544 PM EST WED MAR 19 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PEACHTREE CITY HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHWESTERN HARALSON COUNTY IN NORTHWEST GEORGIA
  WESTERN POLK COUNTY IN NORTHWEST GEORGIA

* UNTIL 630 PM EST

* AT 440 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  DEVELOPING TORNADO 12 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CEDARTOWN.  THIS DANGEROUS
  STORM IS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...BUCHANAN AND
CEDARTOWN.

A TORNADO MAY FORM AT ANY TIME. TAKE COVER NOW ABANDON MOBILE HOMES
AND VEHICLES FOR MORE SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. AVOID WINDOWS.

IF YOU SEE WIND DAMAGE...LARGE HAIL OR SIGNIFICANT FLOODING...WAIT
UNTIL AFTER THE STORM HAS PASSED...AND THEN CALL THE NATIONAL WEATHER
SERVICE TOLL FREE AT 1 8 6 6 7 6 3 4 4 6 6.

LAT...LON 3387 8555 3374 8540 3378 8516 3407 8518

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 19, 10:20 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Catoosa	25 min
Mar 19, 10:40 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Walker	35 min
Mar 19, 10:52 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Catoosa	23 min
Mar 19, 2:25 PM EST	Tornado Warning	FFC	Dade	35 min
Mar 19, 2:57 PM EST	Tornado Warning	FFC	Dade	33 min
Mar 19, 3:29 PM EST	Tornado Warning	FFC	Dade, Walker	31 min
Mar 19, 3:41 PM EST	Tornado Warning	FFC	Chattooga	34 min
Mar 19, 4:14 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Chattooga	31 min
Mar 19, 4:59 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Chattooga	46 min
Mar 19, 5:07 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Murray, Whitfield	38 min
Mar 19, 5:27 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Haralson, Polk	33 min
Mar 19, 5:46 PM EST	Tornado Warning	FFC	Haralson, Polk	44 min
Mar 19, 5:49 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Heard	41 min
Mar 19, 5:57 PM EST	Tornado Warning	FFC	Chattahoochee	33 min
Mar 19, 5:59 PM EST	Tornado Warning	FFC	Chattahoochee	31 min
Mar 19, 6:06 PM EST	Tornado Warning	FFC	Heard	24 min
Mar 19, 6:10 PM EST	Tornado Warning	FFC	Polk	35 min
Mar 19, 6:26 PM EST	Tornado Warning	FFC	Coweta, Heard	49 min
Mar 19, 6:32 PM EST	Tornado Warning	FFC	Chattahoochee, Marion	28 min
Mar 19, 6:45 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Troup	30 min
Mar 19, 6:58 PM EST	Tornado Warning	FFC	Marion	32 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Georgia, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes in 2003

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.