Alert archive / Georgia / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 411

May 18, 200319 counties in Alabama; 14 counties in Florida; 64 counties in Georgia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 18, 2003, 11:00 AM CDT for 19 counties in Alabama; 14 counties in Florida; 64 counties in Georgia. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 18, 2003, 11:00 AM CDT (16:00 UTC)
Expired
May 18, 2003, 4:00 PM CDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 97 counties

Barbour County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Chambers County, AL, Cleburne County, AL, Coffee County, AL, Covington County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Dale County, AL, Elmore County, AL, Geneva County, AL, Henry County, AL, Houston County, AL, Lee County, AL, Macon County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Pike County, AL, Randolph County, AL, Russell County, AL, Tallapoosa County, AL, Bay County, FL, Calhoun County, FL, Escambia County, FL, Franklin County, FL, Gadsden County, FL, Gulf County, FL, Holmes County, FL, Jackson County, FL, Leon County, FL, Liberty County, FL, Okaloosa County, FL, Santa Rosa County, FL, Walton County, FL, Washington County, FL, Baker County, GA, Baldwin County, GA, Bibb County, GA, Bleckley County, GA, Butts County, GA, Calhoun County, GA, Carroll County, GA, Chattahoochee County, GA, Clay County, GA, Clayton County, GA, Colquitt County, GA, Coweta County, GA, Crawford County, GA, Crisp County, GA, Decatur County, GA, Dooly County, GA, Dougherty County, GA, Douglas County, GA, Early County, GA, Fayette County, GA, Fulton County, GA, Grady County, GA, Haralson County, GA, Harris County, GA, Heard County, GA, Henry County, GA, Houston County, GA, Jasper County, GA, Jones County, GA, Lamar County, GA, Lee County, GA, Macon County, GA, Marion County, GA, Meriwether County, GA, Miller County, GA, Mitchell County, GA, Monroe County, GA, Muscogee County, GA, Newton County, GA, Paulding County, GA, Peach County, GA, Pike County, GA, Polk County, GA, Pulaski County, GA, Putnam County, GA, Quitman County, GA, Randolph County, GA, Schley County, GA, Seminole County, GA, Spalding County, GA, Stewart County, GA, Sumter County, GA, Talbot County, GA, Taylor County, GA, Terrell County, GA, Troup County, GA, Turner County, GA, Twiggs County, GA, Upson County, GA, Washington County, GA, Webster County, GA, Wilcox County, GA, Wilkinson County, GA, Worth County, GA

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 18, 11:51 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXChambers, Lee54 min
May 18, 11:59 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXChambers, Lee46 min
May 18, 12:25 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXBarbour50 min
May 18, 12:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXRussell33 min
May 18, 1:25 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXBarbour, Russell35 min
May 18, 2:07 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBOkaloosa53 min
May 18, 3:01 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFFCJones29 min
May 18, 3:16 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFFCWilkinson29 min
May 18, 3:40 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFFCBleckley, Laurens35 min
May 18, 3:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFFCWilcox29 min
May 18, 3:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFFCWilkinson31 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), launched 12:00Z, 4.0 hours before the alert went out and 166 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2003-05-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1121 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2003-05-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 85 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1121 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-42 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
868 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
85 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
116 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

166 
WWUS20 KWNS 181600
SEL1  
SPC WW 181600
ALZ000-FLZ000-GAZ000-CWZ000-182100-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 411 
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 
1200 PM EDT SUN MAY 18 2003

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 

       EASTERN ALABAMA
       THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE
       WESTERN AND SOUTHERN GEORGIA
       COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON FROM 1200 PM UNTIL 500 PM EDT.

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

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 85 STATUTE MILES EITHER SIDE
OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES EAST OF ATLANTA GEORGIA TO 40 MILES
SOUTHWEST OF PANAMA CITY FLORIDA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND 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.




DISCUSSION...THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED TO INCREASE IN
COVERAGE/INTENSITY ALONG AND AHEAD OF EXISTING SQUALL LINE OVER ERN
AL. STRONG SURFACE HEATING... RICH BOUNDARY LAYER MOISTURE AND
RELATIVELY COOL MID LEVEL TEMPERATURES WILL YIELD A VERY UNSTABLE
ENVIRONMENT BENEATH MODERATE SWLY MID LEVEL JET. SETUP SHOULD BECOME
FAVORABLE FOR CLUSTERS OF STRONG MULTICELLS AND A FEW SUPERCELLS
WITH LARGE HAIL/WET MICROBURSTS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES.  OTHER
STRONG STORMS MAY FORM INVOF WEDGE BOUNDARY NEAR ATL.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND 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 550.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 22025.


...CORFIDI

330,0824 291,0845 302,0872 341,0851

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 17, 7:16 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAutauga, Bibb, Blount, Chilton, Choctaw, Clarke and 15 more119 min
May 18, 5:52 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaldwin, Bullock, Butler, Clarke, Coffee, Conecuh and 12 more53 min
May 18, 10:18 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaldwin, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers, Clay and 19 more87 min
May 18, 1:10 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCDale, Geneva, Henry, Houston, Russell95 min
May 18, 12:16 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Gilchrist and 8 more119 min
May 18, 12:40 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAlachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie and 17 more6 hr
May 18, 5:22 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie and 15 more83 min
May 18, 12:10 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBryan, Bulloch, Burke, Candler, Chatham, Effingham and 17 more6 hr
May 18, 4:57 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBurke, Candler, Columbia, Emanuel, Jefferson, Jenkins and 6 more63 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2003Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2003Tornado Watches in Florida, 2003Every tornado watch 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.