Alert archive / Georgia / Tornado Watches in 2024

Tornado Watch 254

May 17, 20247 counties in Alabama; 7 counties in Florida; 26 counties in Georgia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 17, 2024, 2:59 PM CDT for 7 counties in Alabama; 7 counties in Florida; 26 counties in Georgia. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 17, 2024, 2:59 PM CDT (19:59 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 2024, 8:49 PM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 2 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 40 counties

Coffee County, AL, Covington County, AL, Dale County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Geneva County, AL, Henry County, AL, Houston County, AL, Escambia County, FL, Holmes County, FL, Jackson County, FL, Okaloosa County, FL, Santa Rosa County, FL, Walton County, FL, Washington County, FL, Baker County, GA, Ben Hill County, GA, Berrien County, GA, Brooks County, GA, Calhoun County, GA, Clay County, GA, Colquitt County, GA, Cook County, GA, Decatur County, GA, Dougherty County, GA, Early County, GA, Grady County, GA, Irwin County, GA, Lanier County, GA, Lee County, GA, Lowndes County, GA, Miller County, GA, Mitchell County, GA, Quitman County, GA, Randolph County, GA, Seminole County, GA, Terrell County, GA, Thomas County, GA, Tift County, GA, Turner County, GA, Worth County, GA

The radar

The Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 12 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:01 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 SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes: 50%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 20%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 60%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 20%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 60%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 95%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 17, 3:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Conecuh, Covington, Escambia	43 min
May 17, 3:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Covington	47 min
May 17, 3:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Geneva	89 min
May 17, 3:47 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Covington	43 min
May 17, 3:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TAE	Geneva	34 min
May 17, 4:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning Tornado observed	TAE	Geneva	35 min
May 17, 4:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Covington	27 min
May 17, 5:06 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TAE	Geneva	24 min
May 17, 5:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Geneva, Houston	83 min
May 17, 5:12 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TAE	Geneva	3 hr
May 17, 5:17 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MOB	Covington	3 hr
May 17, 5:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Baker, Colquitt, Dougherty, Mitchell, Worth	71 min
May 17, 5:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TAE	Holmes, Jackson, Washington	36 min
May 17, 6:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Berrien, Brooks, Colquitt, Cook, Decatur, Grady and 5 more	88 min
May 17, 6:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TAE	Jackson	33 min
May 17, 6:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Houston	68 min
May 17, 6:34 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TAE	Berrien, Brooks, Colquitt, Cook, Lanier, Lowndes and 1 more	56 min
May 17, 6:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Berrien, Brooks, Cook, Lanier, Lowndes	96 min
May 17, 6:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Holmes, Jackson, Walton, Washington	64 min
May 17, 7:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TAE	Gadsden, Jackson, Liberty	32 min
May 17, 7:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Decatur, Grady	81 min
May 17, 7:31 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TAE	Geneva, Houston	3 hr
May 17, 7:38 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TAE	Berrien, Brooks, Colquitt, Cook, Lanier, Lowndes	4 hr
May 17, 7:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Calhoun, Jackson	20 min
May 17, 8:14 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TAE	Decatur	3 hr

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, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 150 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1201 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 61 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 46 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 367 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 10:53 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Baldwin, Mobile	4 hr
May 17, 2:31 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baldwin, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington, Dale, Escambia and 4 more	2 hr
May 17, 5:32 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Geneva	88 min
May 17, 2:21 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bay, Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton	54 min
May 17, 6:39 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Citrus, Hernando, Levy	2 hr
May 17, 6:17 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Calhoun, Gadsden, Hamilton, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty and 2 more	88 min
May 17, 6:47 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Baker, Bay, Calhoun, Columbia, Gadsden, Hamilton and 8 more	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2024 Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2024 Tornado Watches in Florida, 2024 Every tornado watch in 2024

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.