Scattered afternoon thunderstorms developed in an environment of high instability favorable for microbursts.
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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 TAE wrote it up.
Scattered afternoon thunderstorms developed in an environment of high instability favorable for microbursts.
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 Tallahassee, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 19, 2:30 PM EST, 0 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Tallahassee FL 330 PM EDT TUE JUL 19 2016 .NEAR TERM [Through Tonight]... Dry conditions have persisted through this morning and early afternoon across our area, thanks to relatively dry air at mid levels and weak upper level forcing. However, expect scattered showers and thunderstorms to expand in coverage late this afternoon into the evening as increased moisture develops, along with the sea breeze pushing inland and eventually an upper level shortwave approaching our northern areas this evening. The sea breeze should remain fairly close to the coast through the remainder of the afternoon and evening due to flow out of the north/northeast. As a result, the most likely area for enhanced coverage of showers and storms resulting from this feature will remain near the coast, especially near the western Big Bend where convergence will be maximized. Our northern counties will also see a decent chance of showers and storms from late afternoon through the evening, as fairly widespread thunderstorms have already developed just north of our CWA and northerly flow will likely bring some of these storms into SE Alabama and SW Georgia. Storms may persist a couple hours past sunset, with upper level support increasing as a shortwave approaches our area. However, expect most inland areas to dry out later tonight as instability continues to decrease. .SHORT TERM [Wednesday Through Thursday Night]... An upper level ridge is centered over the central CONUS and will remain over the plains throughout the short term period. CWA is still present on the eastern side of the ridge, however, due to the lack of defined shortwaves, there is less coverage expected on Wednesday and Thursday compared to today. PoPs will be slightly less than climatology at around 20-40 percent through the period. High temperatures are expected to be in the mid to upper 90s inland and in the lower 90s along the coast on Wednesday and Thursday. Heat indices are expected to exceed 100 and possibly approach 105. .LONG TERM [Friday Through Tuesday]... Deep layer ridge across the central CONUS will begin to flatten and elongate as a series of shortwave troughs move across the northern tier states. Not much relief is in the offering for the southeast CONUS and our area with highs in the mid 90s, heat indices in the low to mid 100s, and summertime diurnal thunderstorms each day. An upper trough, seen in the medium range model solutions moreso in the GFS than the ECMWF, will move into the eastern Gulf of Mexico Monday towards the Mississippi delta Tuesday. This will help to increase precipitation chances Monday and especially Tuesday, increase cloud cover, and lower high temperatures as a result. Confidence is low at this point but edged in that direction as the GFS has shown some consistency the past few model runs. && .AVIATION [Through 18Z Wednesday]... Showers and thunderstorms have been slow to develop in our area early this afternoon, with all terminals experiencing VFR conditions. However, scattered convection in central AL/GA will slowly push southward into our area, along with scattered showers and storms possibly developing later this afternoon along the sea breeze in northern FL. Scattered showers and storms should dissipate during the evening...likely by sunset near ECP and TLH, and possibly a couple hours later near our AL and GA terminals. Apart from brief MVFR/IFR visibility reductions possible due to a shower or storm, VFR conditions will prevail through tonight and Wednesday morning. && .MARINE... Surface high pressure will dominate through the weekend. Generally light winds of 5 to 10 knots will continue with seas around 2 feet or less. Isolated to scattered thunderstorms can be expected, especially in the overnight hours each day. && .FIRE WEATHER... Red flag conditions are not expected over the next several days. Dispersion values may be marginally low on Wednesday afternoon across most of the area. Peak values are currently forecast in the 25-30 range. && .HYDROLOGY... Shower and thunderstorm activity will continue each day. Any heavy rainfall will be isolated but still has the potential to allow for localized ponding of water. Widespread flooding is not expected. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Tallahassee 75 96 76 96 75 / 20 30 20 30 30 Panama City 78 91 79 91 79 / 20 30 10 30 10 Dothan 74 95 75 96 75 / 40 30 20 30 20 Albany 74 96 74 96 74 / 50 20 20 30 10 Valdosta 73 95 73 95 74 / 30 30 20 30 20 Cross City 73 95 74 95 75 / 20 20 20 20 20 Apalachicola 76 91 78 91 78 / 20 20 10 20 20 && .TAE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...None. GA...None. AL...None. GM...None. && NEAR TERM...Lahr SHORT TERM...Scholl LONG TERM...Scholl AVIATION...Lahr MARINE...Scholl FIRE WEATHER...DVD HYDROLOGY...Fieux
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
314 PM EDT TUE JUL 19 2016
ALZ067-GAZ120>128-142-192000-
HENRY AL-WORTH GA-TURNER GA-LEE GA-TERRELL GA-CLAY GA-CALHOUN GA-
QUITMAN GA-RANDOLPH GA-EARLY GA-DOUGHERTY GA-
314 PM EDT TUE JUL 19 2016
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR HENRY...NORTHERN DOUGHERTY...
QUITMAN...NORTHWESTERN EARLY...WESTERN TURNER...NORTHERN CALHOUN...
TERRELL...CLAY...LEE...NORTHERN WORTH AND RANDOLPH COUNTIES UNTIL 400
PM EDT/300 PM CDT/...
AT 313 PM EDT/213 PM CDT/...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR
INDICATED A LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM
NEAR SMITHVILLE TO NEAR ABBEVILLE...AND MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH.
DIME SIZE HAIL AND WINDS IN EXCESS OF 40 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH
THESE STORMS.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
ABBEVILLE...FORT GAINES...MORGAN...CUTHBERT...LEESBURG...ASHBURN...
GEORGETOWN...ALBANY...DAWSON...EDISON...SHELLMAN...SMITHVILLE...
TURNER CITY...EAST ALBANY...WORTH...TERRELL...SYCAMORE...WARWICK...
SASSER AND BRONWOOD.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS OCCURRING WITH THESE STORMS.
LIGHTNING CAN STRIKE 15 MILES AWAY FROM A THUNDERSTORM. SEEK A SAFE
SHELTER INSIDE A BUILDING OR VEHICLE.
&&
LAT...LON 3197 8495 3195 8496 3192 8491 3194 8444
3196 8444 3187 8434 3192 8434 3191 8392
3184 8394 3180 8380 3180 8366 3163 8362
3143 8540 3171 8542 3170 8522 3174 8520
3176 8513 3189 8513 3199 8507
TIME...MOT...LOC 1913Z 335DEG 10KT 3188 8420 3162 8527
ADLThe Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 58 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:29 UTC.
22 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Several trees were reported down by the Quitman County Sheriff's Office.
Power lines were blown down near Graves.
Power lines were blown down west of Cuthbert.
A tree was blown down onto Sturgeon Creek Road.
A tree was blown down at 5500 Highway 41 North.
Several trees were blown down, including some on power lines.
Trees were blown down in the Ray City area.
Several trees were blown down north and northeast of Valdosta.
Several trees and power lines were blown down near Lakeland.
Multiple trees were blown down along Val Del Road.
A tree was blown down near Herring Road.
A tree was blown down near Quitman.
Trees were blown down near Barwick.
Trees were blown down in the Dixie area.
A tree was blown down onto Gil Harbin Industrial Blvd.
A power line was blown down onto Bernice Drive.
A power line was blown down at the 2300 block of Indian Ford Road.
A tree was blown down along Clyattville Road.
Several trees were blown down in Thomas county.
Several trees were blown down in the county, including a picture of a snapped tree in the Coolidge area on social media.
Trees were blown down near Sylvester.
The Mitchell EMC power company reported power outages all due to high winds in portions of Baker and Dougherty counties.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Georgia in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Georgia, July 2016
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: 639421, 639422, 639423, 639424, 639425, 639426, 639427, 639428, 639429, 639430, 639431, 639432, 639433, 639434, 639435, 639436, 639437, 639438, 639439, 639440, 639443, 639444.