Alert archive / Georgia / Tornado Watches in 2026
Tornado Watch 65
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 16, 2026, 7:59 AM EDT for 15 counties in Florida; 66 counties in Georgia; 17 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 7 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Mar 16, 2026, 7:59 AM EDT (11:59 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 16, 2026, 2:34 PM EDT
- In force
- 7 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 70 kt
All 98 counties
Columbia County, FL, Dixie County, FL, Franklin County, FL, Gadsden County, FL, Gilchrist County, FL, Gulf County, FL, Hamilton County, FL, Jefferson County, FL, Lafayette County, FL, Leon County, FL, Liberty County, FL, Madison County, FL, Suwannee County, FL, Taylor County, FL, Wakulla County, FL, Appling County, GA, Atkinson County, GA, Bacon County, GA, Baker County, GA, Ben Hill County, GA, Berrien County, GA, Bleckley County, GA, Brantley County, GA, Brooks County, GA, Bryan County, GA, Bulloch County, GA, Burke County, GA, Candler County, GA, Chatham County, GA, Clinch County, GA, Coffee County, GA, Colquitt County, GA, Columbia County, GA, Cook County, GA, Crisp County, GA, Decatur County, GA, Dodge County, GA, Dooly County, GA, Dougherty County, GA, Echols County, GA, Effingham County, GA, Emanuel County, GA, Evans County, GA, Glascock County, GA, Grady County, GA, Houston County, GA, Irwin County, GA, Jeff Davis County, GA, Jefferson County, GA, Jenkins County, GA, Johnson County, GA, Lanier County, GA, Laurens County, GA, Lee County, GA, Liberty County, GA, Long County, GA, Lowndes County, GA, McDuffie County, GA, McIntosh County, GA, Miller County, GA, Mitchell County, GA, Montgomery County, GA, Pierce County, GA, Pulaski County, GA, Richmond County, GA, Screven County, GA, Tattnall County, GA, Telfair County, GA, Thomas County, GA, Tift County, GA, Toombs County, GA, Treutlen County, GA, Turner County, GA, Twiggs County, GA, Ware County, GA, Washington County, GA, Wayne County, GA, Wheeler County, GA, Wilcox County, GA, Wilkinson County, GA, Worth County, GA, Aiken County, SC, Allendale County, SC, Bamberg County, SC, Barnwell County, SC, Calhoun County, SC, Chesterfield County, SC, Clarendon County, SC, Colleton County, SC, Dorchester County, SC, Hampton County, SC, Jasper County, SC, Kershaw County, SC, Lee County, SC, Lexington County, SC, Orangeburg County, SC, Richland County, SC, Sumter County, SC
The radar
The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 68 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 11:58 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
- 60%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 40%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 70%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 60%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 20%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 10%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 90%
Warnings issued inside it
35 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 16, 8:01 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Jefferson, Leon, Wakulla | 59 min |
| Mar 16, 8:01 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Baker, Calhoun, Dougherty, Early, Miller | 44 min |
| Mar 16, 8:13 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Franklin, Gulf, Liberty, Wakulla | 77 min |
| Mar 16, 8:29 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FFC | Baldwin, Bleckley, Hancock, Houston, Jones, Laurens and 4 more | 31 min |
| Mar 16, 8:43 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Aiken, Edgefield, Fairfield, McCormick, Newberry, Saluda | 62 min |
| Mar 16, 8:44 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FFC | Emanuel, Jefferson, Johnson | 31 min |
| Mar 16, 8:53 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Jefferson, Leon, Madison, Taylor, Wakulla | 52 min |
| Mar 16, 8:54 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Burke, Richmond | 66 min |
| Mar 16, 8:55 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CHS | Jenkins, Screven | 65 min |
| Mar 16, 9:00 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Burke, Columbia, Lincoln, McDuffie, Richmond | 60 min |
| Mar 16, 9:28 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Franklin, Liberty, Wakulla | 62 min |
| Mar 16, 9:38 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Chesterfield, Lancaster | 38 min |
| Mar 16, 9:40 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | TAE | Jefferson, Madison | 35 min |
| Mar 16, 9:43 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Jefferson, Leon, Madison, Taylor, Wakulla | 62 min |
| Mar 16, 9:57 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | TAE | Brooks, Lowndes | 33 min |
| Mar 16, 9:59 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Colquitt, Cook, Irwin, Tift, Turner, Worth | 61 min |
| Mar 16, 10:14 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | TAE | Ben Hill, Irwin, Tift, Turner | 31 min |
| Mar 16, 10:15 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Calhoun, Chesterfield, Kershaw, Lee, Richland, Sumter | 45 min |
| Mar 16, 10:25 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Decatur, Grady, Mitchell, Thomas | 65 min |
| Mar 16, 10:30 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Bay, Calhoun, Gadsden, Gulf, Jackson, Liberty | 60 min |
| Mar 16, 10:30 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Lanier, Lowndes | 60 min |
| Mar 16, 10:37 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Franklin | 53 min |
| Mar 16, 10:37 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Ben Hill, Berrien, Irwin | 53 min |
| Mar 16, 10:42 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Jefferson, Madison | 48 min |
| Mar 16, 11:08 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX | Clinch, Echols | 37 min |
| Mar 16, 11:14 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX | Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Coffee, Jeff Davis | 15 min |
| Mar 16, 11:16 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | TAE | Irwin, Tift | 44 min |
| Mar 16, 11:22 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Leon, Liberty, Wakulla | 53 min |
| Mar 16, 11:33 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Ben Hill, Irwin | 42 min |
| Mar 16, 11:35 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX | Brantley, Charlton, Clinch, Pierce, Ware | 13 min |
| Mar 16, 12:01 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Jefferson, Leon | 59 min |
| Mar 16, 12:47 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Dixie, Lafayette, Taylor | 43 min |
| Mar 16, 1:02 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX | Brantley, Camden, Charlton, Ware | 28 min |
| Mar 16, 1:25 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Dixie, Lafayette | 52 min |
| Mar 16, 2:13 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CHS | Liberty, McIntosh | 27 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
Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), launched 00:00Z, 12.0 hours before the alert went out and 245 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1337 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -30 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1212 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 33 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 72 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 118 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.5
- Supercell composite
- 4.7
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 16, 3:37 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Holmes, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton, Washington | 113 min |
| Mar 16, 4:10 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Holmes, Jackson, Okaloosa and 3 more | 8 hr |
| Mar 16, 7:54 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Jefferson and 4 more | 96 min |
| Mar 16, 10:36 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baker, Columbia, Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf and 9 more | 84 min |
| Mar 16, 12:49 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie and 14 more | 86 min |
| Mar 16, 1:33 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Duval and 10 more | 4 hr |
| Mar 16, 1:58 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Brevard, Broward, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry and 13 more | 62 min |
| Mar 15, 9:22 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Fannin, Floyd and 6 more | 9 hr |
| Mar 15, 11:54 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Dade | 2 hr |
| Mar 16, 4:21 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Rabun, Towns, Union | 114 min |
| Mar 16, 4:36 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Elbert, Franklin, Habersham, Hart, Lincoln, Rabun and 1 more | 6 hr |
| Mar 16, 6:01 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Ben Hill, Berrien and 41 more | 89 min |
| Mar 16, 7:23 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baldwin, Bibb, Butts, Chattahoochee, Clarke, Crawford and 28 more | 97 min |
| Mar 16, 11:15 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Berkeley, Georgetown, Horry, Marion, Williamsburg | 90 min |
| Mar 16, 1:18 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Dillon, Florence, Georgetown, Horry, Marion, Williamsburg | 7 hr |
| Mar 16, 3:19 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Georgetown, Horry | 116 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2026Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 2026Tornado Watches in Florida, 2026Every tornado watch in 2026
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.