After a very wet fall and winter, rainfall during the March and April period fell below normal in many areas, especially the north part of the state. Wildfires were on the increase during April 2010 with several human caused wildfires reported by the Georgia Forestry Commission during the month.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 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.
After a very wet fall and winter, rainfall during the March and April period fell below normal in many areas, especially the north part of the state. Wildfires were on the increase during April 2010 with several human caused wildfires reported by the Georgia Forestry Commission during the month. Wildfires were reported in Gilmer, Chattooga, Fannin, Union, and Murray counties. The most significant wildfire during the month was actually the result of a T9 military aircraft crash in Fannin county just east of Blue Ridge. This incident fueled a 23 acre wild fire in the forests just east of Blue Ridge.
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 1, 3:20 PM EST, 5 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA 420 PM EDT THU APR 1 2010 .SHORT TERM /TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT/... A DEEP LAYER SUBTROPICAL HIGH CENTERED OVER NORTH FLORIDA AND SOUTH GEORGIA WILL SLIDE EAST TO THE CAROLINA COAST BY FRIDAY. RETURN SOUTHERLY FLOW WILL BRING INCREASING MOISTURE INTO THE LOCAL AREA ON FRIDAY AND MORE SO ON SATURDAY. A HIGH AMPLITUDE LONGWAVE TROUGH CURRENTLY OVER THE INTER-MOUNTAIN WEST WILL ADVANCE EASTWARD INTO THE PLAINS BY SATURDAY. DURING THIS TIME AN ASSOCIATED SURFACE LOW TRACKS FROM THE CENTRAL PLAINS TO THE WESTERN GREAT LAKES WHILE A TRAILING COLD FRONT TRACKS THROUGH THE LENGTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY...REACHING GEORGIA SATURDAY EVENING. INSTABILITY IS RATHER LIMITED AHEAD OF THE FRONT...BUT MAY BE ENOUGH TO GENERATE A FEW SHOWERS OR POSSIBLY A THUNDERSTORM LATE SATURDAY AFTERNOON. AFTERNOON HIGHS WILL BE WELL ABOVE NORMAL EACH DAY WITH HIGHS FRIDAY TOPPING OUT JUST A FEW DEGREES SHY OF THE DAILY RECORDS. .LONG TERM /SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/... THE VARIOUS MODELS/ENSEMBLES DEPICT THE DISSIPATING FRONT WILL STALL OVER THE LOCAL AREA ON SUNDAY...THOUGH WITH UPPER LEVEL RIDGE BUILDING BACK IN SUBSIDENCE SHOULD REMAIN THE DOMINANT INFLUENCE KEEPING US MOSTLY DRY ON SUNDAY. A WEAK SHORTWAVE ROUNDING THE RIDGE AND LOW LEVEL WARM ADVECTION MAY BRING ANOTHER SLIGHT CHANCE FOR -SHRA/TSRA TO THE NORTH ON MONDAY...THOUGH THE RIDGE SHOULD BE THE PREDOMINANT INFLUENCE THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. THE NEXT UPPER TROUGH AND RELATED COLD FRONT HAVE BEEN DELAYED SLIGHTLY ON THE LATEST MODEL RUNS. THE GFS IS STILL THE FASTEST THOUGH LEANED FORECAST TOWARD THE SLOWER ECMWF WHICH KEEPS US FAIRLY DRY UNTIL THURSDAY NIGHT. RRH && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... ATHENS 49 86 53 79 54 / 0 0 5 20 10 ATLANTA 54 82 57 77 58 / 0 0 10 20 10 BLAIRSVILLE 40 79 48 73 46 / 0 0 10 30 20 CARTERSVILLE 42 83 52 77 49 / 0 0 10 40 20 COLUMBUS 51 85 57 78 58 / 0 0 10 20 10 GAINESVILLE 52 83 55 75 55 / 0 0 10 20 10 MACON 46 86 50 80 54 / 0 0 5 10 10 ROME 47 84 52 79 50 / 0 0 10 40 10 PEACHTREE CITY 43 81 48 79 50 / 0 0 10 20 10 VIDALIA 54 86 55 82 58 / 0 0 0 10 10 && .FFC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: 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. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA 1030 AM EDT THU APR 1 2010 GAZ001>009-011>016-019>025-027-030>039-041>062-066>076-078>086- 089>098-102>113-021010- 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- 1030 AM EDT THU APR 1 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. DANGEROUS FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OVER NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. .SYNOPSIS... HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE SOUTHEAST STATES WILL CONTINUE TO GIVE GEORGIA DRY AND WARM WEATHER. .PRIMARY HAZARDS... THE PRIMARY HAZARD WILL BE DANGEROUS FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS DUE TO LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITIES. .DISCUSSION... SUNSHINE AND DRY CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. THIS WILL CAUSE RELATIVE HUMIDITIES TO FALL TO 20 PERCENT ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE SATURDAY AFTERNOON FOR NORTH AND WEST GEORGIA. OTHERWISE NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH TONIGHT. BDL
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
The Georgia Forestry commission reported a wildfire in Gilmer county. The human caused wildfire, labeled Brushy Head, burned 160 acres of forestry land and 240 acres of private land. Losses sustained were estimated to be nearly $17,000.
The Georgia Forestry Commission reported a human-caused wildfire in the Narrows area of Chattooga county. The fire burned 11 acres resulting in estimated damages of $8,300.
The Georgia Forestry Commission reported a human-caused wildfire in Fannin county. This was one of two such events in Fannin county during April. The fire, labeled Fruitkoff, burned 15.25 acres and resulted in $6,500 in damages.
The Georgia Forestry Commission reported a human-caused wildfire labeled County Line burned 3.0 acres and resulted in $5,000 in estimated damages.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Georgia in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Georgia, April 2010
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: 225869, 225870, 225871, 225872.