S. accompanied by a unusually strong polar cold front for late April.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS FFC wrote it up.
A very deep negatively titled trough was rotating through the southeast U.S. accompanied by a unusually strong polar cold front for late April. While surface moisture was limited across the area as it had been removed from the area by the early week system that brought severe weather and tornadoes to the area, strong upper dynamics caused an area of showers to develop that moved across west central and central Georgia during the late afternoon. As these showers moved across Houston county, strong to high winds were observed. Winds estimated at 45 to 55 mph and possibly greater blew down a number of large trees across the county.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Atlanta, GA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 21, 1:56 PM EST, 3 hours 24 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA 256 PM EDT TUE APR 21 2009 .SHORT TERM /TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT/... PRIMARY CONCERN FOR THE SHORT TERM PERIOD IS CHC FOR TSRA... POSSIBLY SEVERE ON THURSDAY AFTERNOON. MODEL STATISTICS DOING A POOR JOB CAPTURING POTENTIAL FOR PRECIP AND TSRA. THIS DOES TEND TO HAPPEN IN NW FLOW PATTERNS IN THIS PART OF THE COUNTRY IN THE SPRING. GFS40 AND NAM12 MODEL PRECIPITATION FORECASTS HOWEVER SHOW ISOLD TO SCT COVERAGE OF SHRA/TSRA THURSDAY AFTERNOON OVER MUCH OF GEORGIA. ALSO COUNTER-INTUITIVE TO THINK OF SEVERE WEATHER THIS TIME OF YEAR IN NW FLOW PATTERNS...HOWEVER BASED ON NAM/GFS MLCAPE AROUND 2000 J/KG...35KT 0-6KM BULK SHEAR AND 20KT 0-1KM BULK SHEAR...COULD EASILY SEE ISOLD SVR STORMS AND SUPERCELLS WITH LARGE HAIL AS THE PRIMARY THREAT AS WARM/STATIONARY FRONT FEATURE SETS UP ACROSS STATE. HAVE GONE ABOVE MOS POPS FOR THURS AFTERNOON AND ADDED TSRA FOR NOW. WILL MENTION IN HWO AS WELL. REST OF SHORT TERM FORECAST LOOKS OK. ISOLD SHRA POSSIBLE THIS EVENING WITH STEEP LAPSE RATES AND UPWARD FORCING ALOFT. MOST OF TSRA THIS AFTERNOON SHOULD REMAIN NE OF CWA. USED BIAS-ADJUSTED MAV FOR TEMPS. MET ACCURACY HAS DROPPED OFF IN RECENT WEEKS COMPARED WITH MUCH OF THIS SPRING. .LONG TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/... BY FRIDAY...UPPER RIDGE AXIS PUSHES OVER STATE AND VERTICAL WIND SHEAR DROPS TO NEAR ZERO. THAT SAID...INSTABILITY PROGGED TO REMAIN STRONG / MLCAPE GT 1500 J/KG / AND WE MAY SEE PULSE STORMS MAINLY OVER ERN PART OF CWA. COVERAGE WOULD AGAIN BE ISOLD. HAVE NOT ADDED THIS TO FORECAST AT THIS TIME DUE TO LACK OF CONFIRMING MODEL SOLUTIONS...GFS HAS CONVECTIVE PRECIP BUT NAM ...SREF AND ECMWF DO NOT. UPPER RIDGE TO PERSIST THROUGHOUT THE LONG TERM PERIOD SO WILL BE QUITE WARM...ESPECIALLY AT NIGHT. CONTINUES TO APPEAR MOSTLY DRY BASED ON 12Z GFS AND 00Z ECMWF SO NO CHANGES TO PREV FCST. SNELSON && .FIRE WEATHER... WIND AND FUEL CRITERIA BEING MET THIS AFTERNOON AND APPROACHING RH CRITERIA AS WELL. WINDS SHOULD SUBSIDE QUICKLY AROUND SUNSET. COULD SEE RH AND FUEL CRITERIA MET FOR 5+ HOURS ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AS WELL SO HAVE ISSUED FIRE WEATHER WATCH. SNELSON && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... ATHENS 42 70 46 79 55 / 20 0 10 20 5 ATLANTA 44 68 54 79 60 / 10 0 10 20 5 BLAIRSVILLE 38 62 41 75 46 / 20 5 5 20 10 CARTERSVILLE 36 67 44 79 50 / 10 5 10 20 10 COLUMBUS 44 73 53 82 57 / 10 0 10 20 5 GAINESVILLE 43 66 49 76 55 / 20 5 10 20 10 MACON 42 73 51 83 56 / 10 0 10 20 5 ROME 35 67 46 79 52 / 10 5 5 20 10 PEACHTREE CITY 38 69 47 80 50 / 5 0 10 20 5 VIDALIA 44 74 50 82 56 / 20 0 10 10 10 && .FFC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 7 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: BALDWIN...BIBB...BLECKLEY...BUTTS...CHATTAHOOCHEE... CLARKE...CRAWFORD...CRISP...DODGE...DOOLY...EMANUEL...GLASCOCK... GREENE...HANCOCK...HARRIS...HENRY...HOUSTON...JASPER... JEFFERSON...JOHNSON...JONES...LAMAR...LAURENS...MACON... MADISON...MARION...MERIWETHER...MONROE...MONTGOMERY...MORGAN... MUSCOGEE...NEWTON...OCONEE...OGLETHORPE...PEACH...PIKE... PULASKI...PUTNAM...ROCKDALE...SCHLEY...SPALDING...STEWART... SUMTER...TALBOT...TALIAFERRO...TAYLOR...TELFAIR...TOOMBS... TREUTLEN...TROUP...TWIGGS...UPSON...WALTON...WARREN... WASHINGTON...WEBSTER...WHEELER...WILCOX...WILKES...WILKINSON. WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 7 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: BANKS...BARROW...BARTOW...BUTTS...CARROLL...CATOOSA... CHATTOOGA...CHEROKEE...CLARKE...CLAYTON...COBB...COWETA...DADE... DAWSON...DEKALB...DOUGLAS...FANNIN...FAYETTE...FLOYD...FORSYTH... GILMER...GORDON...GREENE...GWINNETT...HALL...HARALSON...HARRIS... HEARD...HENRY...JACKSON...JASPER...LAMAR...LUMPKIN...MADISON... MERIWETHER...MONROE...MORGAN...MURRAY...MUSCOGEE...NEWTON... NORTH FULTON...OCONEE...OGLETHORPE...PAULDING...PICKENS...PIKE... POLK...PUTNAM...ROCKDALE...SOUTH FULTON...SPALDING...TALBOT... TALIAFERRO...TOWNS...TROUP...UNION...UPSON...WALKER...WALTON... WHITE...WHITFIELD...WILKES. && 13
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA 230 PM EDT TUE APR 21 2009 GAZ001>009-011>016-019>025-027-030>039-041>062-066>076-078>086- 089>098-102>113-220945- BALDWIN-BANKS-BARROW-BARTOW-BIBB-BLECKLEY-BUTTS-CARROLL-CATOOSA- CHATTAHOOCHEE-CHATTOOGA-CHEROKEE-CLARKE-CLAYTON-COBB-COWETA- CRAWFORD-CRISP-DADE-DAWSON-DEKALB-DODGE-DOOLY-DOUGLAS-EMANUEL- FANNIN-FAYETTE-FLOYD-FORSYTH-GILMER-GLASCOCK-GORDON-GREENE- GWINNETT-HALL-HANCOCK-HARALSON-HARRIS-HEARD-HENRY-HOUSTON-JACKSON- JASPER-JEFFERSON-JOHNSON-JONES-LAMAR-LAURENS-LUMPKIN-MACON- MADISON-MARION-MERIWETHER-MONROE-MONTGOMERY-MORGAN-MURRAY- MUSCOGEE-NEWTON-NORTH FULTON-OCONEE-OGLETHORPE-PAULDING-PEACH- PICKENS-PIKE-POLK-PULASKI-PUTNAM-ROCKDALE-SCHLEY-SOUTH FULTON- SPALDING-STEWART-SUMTER-TALBOT-TALIAFERRO-TAYLOR-TELFAIR-TOOMBS- TOWNS-TREUTLEN-TROUP-TWIGGS-UNION-UPSON-WALKER-WALTON-WARREN- WASHINGTON-WEBSTER-WHEELER-WHITE-WHITFIELD-WILCOX-WILKES- WILKINSON- 230 PM EDT TUE APR 21 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT STRONG...GUSTY WINDS EXPECTED TODAY ACROSS MOST OF NORTH AND WEST CENTRAL GEORGIA. .SYNOPSIS... A DEEPENING LOW OVER THE GREAT LAKES AREA...AND THE ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT PUSHING SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE TENNESSEE VALLEY...WILL COMBINE WITH A SURFACE HIGH BUILDING OVER THE GULF COAST TO PRODUCE STRONG...GUSTY WINDS OVER MUCH OF NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA THIS AFTERNOON. .PRIMARY HAZARDS... THE PRIMARY HAZARD WILL BE STRONG WEST WINDS FROM 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS OVER 30 MPH THROUGH EARLY EVENING HOURS...MAINLY NORTH OF A LINE FROM COLUMBUS TO THOMASTON...EATONTON AND WASHINGTON. WINDS THIS STRONG CAN BREAK LARGE BRANCHES OUT OF TREES AND EVEN CAUSE LARGE...UNSTABLE TREES TO FALL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE THURSDAY AFTERNOON...SOME OF WHICH COULD PRODUCE LARGE HAIL. OTHERWISE...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED THROUGH TONIGHT.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Houston County Emergency Management Director reported that several trees were blown down across the county by high winds associated with a line of showers moving through the area which accompanied a strong cold front.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Georgia in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Georgia, April 2009
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 167507.