Alert archive / Georgia / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 16, NWS Tallahassee, FL

March 20, 2003Baker County, Mitchell County, Georgia

NWS Tallahassee, FL issued this tornado warning at Mar 20, 2003, 4:47 AM EST for Baker County, Mitchell County, Georgia. It was in force for 43 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, 4:47 AM EST (09:47 UTC)
Expired: Mar 20, 2003, 5:30 AM EST
In force: 43 min
Issued by: NWS Tallahassee, FL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Baker County, GA, Mitchell County, GA

The radar

The Tallahassee radar (KTLH), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 09:48 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 20, 3:40 AM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), launched 00:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 95 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: 1137 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 511 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 61 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 140 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 162 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.9
Supercell composite: 4.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

328 
WFUS52 KTAE 200947
TORTLH
GAC007-205-201030-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
445 AM EST THU MAR 20 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TALLAHASSEE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN BAKER COUNTY IN GEORGIA
  THIS INCLUDES NEWTON...
  MITCHELL COUNTY IN GEORGIA
  THIS INCLUDES CAMILLA...

* UNTIL 530 AM EST

* AT 440 AM EST NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  DEVELOPING TORNADO 19 MILES SOUTHWEST OF NEWTON...OR ABOUT 13 MILES
  NORTHEAST OF BAINBRIDGE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH. THIS SAME STORM 
  HAS ALREADY PRODUCED A TORNADO IN JACKSON COUNTY FLORIDA.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  CAMILLA...NEWTON BY 505 AM EST...
  BACONTON BY 520 AM EST...

THIS IS A DANGEROUS SITUATION. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS 
TORNADO...ABANDON YOUR MOBILE HOME FOR A REINFORCED SHELTER.

LAT...LON 3142 8442 3137 8401 3116 8411 3104 8438
          3111 8451

$$

17-GOULD

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 20, 3:56 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Decatur, Seminole	49 min
Mar 20, 5:31 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Worth	44 min
Mar 20, 11:37 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Colquitt, Cook	23 min
Mar 20, 11:53 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Berrien	22 min
Mar 20, 12:17 PM EST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Berrien	28 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.