Alert archive / Georgia / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Jacksonville, FL

March 20, 2003Bacon County, Georgia

NWS Jacksonville, FL issued this tornado warning at Mar 20, 2003, 1:20 PM EST for Bacon County, Georgia. It was in force for 40 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 20, 2003, 1:20 PM EST (18:20 UTC)
Expired: Mar 20, 2003, 2:00 PM EST
In force: 40 min
Issued by: NWS Jacksonville, FL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Bacon County, GA

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 20, 8:40 AM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), launched 12:00Z, 6.3 hours before the alert went out and 137 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: 1354 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -49 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 703 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 57 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 242 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 206 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.9
Supercell composite: 9.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS52 KJAX 201820
TORJAX
GAC005-201900-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSONVILLE FL
119 PM EST THU MAR 20 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSONVILLE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  BACON COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST GEORGIA

* UNTIL 200 PM EST

* AT 116 PM EST NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  DEVELOPING TORNADO 4 MILES WEST OF ALMA...MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THE STORM THROUGH 200 PM EST...    
   ...ALMA BY 125 PM.

PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TO A BUILDING OR STRUCTURE WHICH WILL
PROVIDE ADEQUATE PROTECTION. MOBILE HOMES AND TRAILERS DO NOT PROVIDE
ADEQUATE PROTECTION FROM A SEVERE STORM.

LAT...LON 3171 8251 3154 8225 3146 8235 3144 8246
          3150 8249 3149 8256
$$

WELSH

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 19, 7:00 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Appling, Jeff Davis	45 min
Mar 19, 7:47 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Appling	43 min
Mar 19, 8:07 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Wayne	23 min
Mar 19, 9:46 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Brantley, Wayne	44 min
Mar 20, 8:27 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Coffee	48 min
Mar 20, 9:12 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Coffee	48 min
Mar 20, 9:40 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Atkinson	50 min
Mar 20, 12:18 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Atkinson, Coffee	57 min
Mar 20, 12:25 PM EST	Tornado Warning	JAX	Atkinson, Coffee	50 min
Mar 20, 1:05 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Bacon	40 min
Mar 20, 1:34 PM EST	Tornado Warning	JAX	Wayne	26 min
Mar 20, 1:37 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Appling, Bacon	38 min
Mar 20, 1:51 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Atkinson	39 min
Mar 20, 2:03 PM EST	Tornado Warning	JAX	Atkinson	27 min
Mar 20, 2:09 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Coffee	51 min
Mar 20, 2:10 PM EST	Tornado Warning	JAX	Wayne	35 min
Mar 20, 2:20 PM EST	Tornado Warning	JAX	Coffee	40 min
Mar 20, 2:29 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Bacon	46 min
Mar 20, 2:34 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Clinch, Echols	56 min
Mar 20, 2:45 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Appling	45 min
Mar 20, 3:15 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Atkinson	45 min
Mar 20, 3:23 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Charlton	67 min
Mar 20, 3:28 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Ware	32 min
Mar 20, 3:55 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	JAX	Bacon	6 hr
Mar 20, 4:37 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Clinch	38 min
Mar 20, 6:04 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Atkinson, Clinch	41 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.