Alert archive / Georgia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2008

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 252, NWS Atlanta, GA

May 20, 20084 counties in Georgia

NWS Atlanta, GA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 20, 2008, 6:08 PM EDT for 4 counties in Georgia. It was in force for 52 min. 7 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 20, 2008, 6:08 PM EDT (22:08 UTC)
Expired: May 20, 2008, 7:00 PM EDT
In force: 52 min
Issued by: NWS Atlanta, GA
Area: Storm-based polygon

Counties Cherokee County, GA, Cobb County, GA, Forsyth County, GA, Fulton County, GA

The radar

The Atlanta radar (KFFC), 79 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:11 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 20, 6:30 PM EDT	TSTM WND DMG	1 S Holly Springs, GA	SEVERAL LARGE TREE LIMBS WERE DOWN AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD.
May 20, 6:30 PM EDT	HAIL 2.75	1 S Holly Springs, GA
May 20, 6:35 PM EDT	TSTM WND DMG	5 Se Holly Springs, GA	POSSIBLE TORNADO HAS BEEN REPORTED SOUTHEAST OF HOLLY SPRINGS...SEVERAL REPORTS OF TREES DOWN HAVE BEEN COMING IN FROM THE AREA.
May 20, 6:35 PM EDT	TORNADO 1	5 Se Holly Springs, GA	PRELIMINARY FINDINGS...EF1 TORNADO. PATH...APPROXIMATELY 5 MILES LONG AND 3/4 TO 1 MILE WIDE. OVER 100 HOMES HAVE BEEN DAMAGED.
May 20, 6:35 PM EDT	TORNADO	5 Se Holly Springs, GA	POSSIBLE TORNADO HAS BEEN REPORTED SOUTHEAST OF HOLLY SPRINGS...OVER 100 HOMES HAVE BEEN DAMAGED.
May 20, 6:40 PM EDT	TSTM WND DMG	4 Nw Roswell, GA	SEVERAL TREES AND POWER LINES WERE KNOCKED DOWN IN MOUNTAIN PARK.
May 20, 6:45 PM EDT	HAIL 1.25	2 N Roswell, GA	THE PORTION OF A METAL CARPORT ROOF WAS ALSO RIPPED OFF.

Local storm reports filed while the alert was in force, from inside its polygon or its counties.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 20, 2:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 77 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: 572 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -199 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 979 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 225 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 251 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS52 KFFC 202209
SVRFFC
GAC057-067-117-121-202300-
/O.NEW.KFFC.SV.W.0252.080520T2208Z-080520T2300Z/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
608 PM EDT TUE MAY 20 2008

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PEACHTREE CITY HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN CHEROKEE COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL GEORGIA
  NORTHEASTERN COBB COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL GEORGIA
  SOUTHWESTERN FORSYTH COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL GEORGIA
  NORTHERN FULTON COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL GEORGIA

* UNTIL 700 PM EDT

* AT 606 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING QUARTER SIZED HAIL...AND
  DAMAGING WINDS UP TO 60 MPH.  THIS STORM WAS LOCATED NEAR
  CHEROKEE...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 45 MPH.

* OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO HOLLY
  SPRINGS...BUFFINGTON...WOODSTOCK...ROSWELL...ALPHARETTA AND SANDY
  SPRINGS.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM EDT
TUESDAY EVENING FOR NORTHERN GEORGIA.

IF YOU SEE WIND DAMAGE...LARGE HAIL OR SIGNIFICANT FLOODING...WAIT
UNTIL 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 3400 8419 3401 8423 3396 8428 3397 8434
      3389 8434 3388 8437 3408 8468 3418 8466
      3426 8436 3413 8410 3410 8412 3406 8411
TIME...MOT...LOC 2208Z 301DEG 43KT 3419 8456

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 20, 4:20 AM EDT	Wind Advisory	FFC	Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Catoosa, Chattooga and 31 more	15 hr
May 20, 3:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Coweta, Fayette	33 min
May 20, 3:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Dade, Walker	46 min
May 20, 4:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Clayton, Fayette, Henry, Spalding	43 min
May 20, 4:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Butts, Henry, Jasper, Newton	39 min
May 20, 4:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Fannin, Murray, Whitfield	61 min
May 20, 4:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Catoosa, Walker	29 min
May 20, 4:39 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Chattooga, Walker	51 min
May 20, 4:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Morgan, Putnam	43 min
May 20, 4:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Butts, Jasper, Monroe	36 min
May 20, 5:08 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Bartow, Floyd, Gordon	67 min
May 20, 5:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Greene	25 min
May 20, 5:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Glascock, Warren	32 min
May 20, 5:16 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Taliaferro	44 min
May 20, 5:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Baldwin, Jones, Putnam	51 min
May 20, 5:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Chattooga, Floyd	78 min
May 20, 5:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Bartow, Cherokee, Gordon, Pickens	44 min
May 20, 5:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Jefferson	26 min
May 20, 5:39 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Fannin, Gilmer, Lumpkin, Union	17 min
May 20, 5:49 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Baldwin, Hancock, Washington	41 min
May 20, 5:51 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	FFC	Bartow, Cherokee	15 min
May 20, 6:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Glascock, Jefferson, Washington	58 min
May 20, 6:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Bartow, Paulding	50 min
May 20, 6:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Jefferson, Washington	29 min
May 20, 6:33 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	FFC	Cherokee, Cobb, Fulton	27 min
May 20, 6:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Haralson, Polk	55 min
May 20, 6:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Gwinnett	65 min
May 20, 6:44 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	FFC	DeKalb, Gwinnett	46 min
May 20, 6:51 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	FFC	Haralson, Polk	34 min
May 20, 7:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Newton, Rockdale, Walton	58 min
May 20, 7:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton	40 min
May 20, 7:14 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	FFC	Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton	31 min
May 20, 7:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Carroll, Douglas, Haralson, Paulding	56 min
May 20, 7:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Morgan, Oconee	34 min
May 20, 7:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Greene, Morgan, Oglethorpe, Putnam	47 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Georgia, 2008 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2008

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; local storm reports from the same archive; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.