Strong daytime heating resulted in a moderately unstable airmass across portions of North Georgia with an isolated severe thunderstorm producing damaging winds.
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The episode as NWS FFC wrote it up.
Strong daytime heating resulted in a moderately unstable airmass across portions of North Georgia with an isolated severe thunderstorm producing damaging winds.
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 May 29, 2:19 PM EST, 4 hours 11 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Peachtree City GA 319 PM EDT SUN MAY 29 2016 .SHORT TERM /Tonight through Monday Night/... Tropical Depression Bonnie is now inland, just northwest of Charleston SC. Light rain and associated cirrus shield has eroded across east-central GA this afternoon, but has left a fairly well- defined north-south oriented differential heating zone across the area. Within this zone...low level convergence helping to generate and support scattered showers, especially between Covington and Macon. Expect this to continue through the afternoon with ongoing surface heating. Not expecting any major impacts with convection aside from occasional cloud to ground lightning, locally heavy rain, and brief wind gusts to 35 mph. Tonight...Loss of heating should taper any convection across the area as TD Bonnie meanders north/east, just inland along the SC coast. Temps will gradually cool back into the 70s this evening with overnight lows similar to this morning /generally in the 60s/. Memorial Day...the area remains sandwiched between "Bonnie" and a weak upr ridge extending from the Lower MS Valley to the Ohio Valley. Daytime heating and weak energy rotating south/west from the upr low associated with Bonnie could spark a few afternoon showers/storms, but most areas will remain dry and warm. Abundant sunshine expected for the first part of the day will allow temps to warm quickly into the lwr-mid 80s by midday. DJN.83 .LONG TERM /Tuesday through Sunday/... Extended forecast trends look good with best rain chances Friday and through the weekend. Have made minor adjustments to late extended QPF (Day 7) to account for latest model trends. Have also gone ahead and drawn far north Georgia in the likely pop region for Friday afternoon which now has better neighbor consistency. Model uncertainty for Day 6 (Friday) is relatively low, and confidence is fairly high likely pops are necessary for the pattern. Otherwise only small adjustments were made to temperatures and dew points. 31 && .AVIATION... 18Z Update...Mainly VFR conditions expected to prevail through tomorrow /Monday/ morning at all TAF sites in north/central GA. Watching a few -SHRA develop between Covington and Macon, moving south. Could influnce MCN in the next few hours, hence the TEMPO. Otherwise, pop-up showers/isold tstms expected through sunset this evening. Outflow from rain shield associated with TD Bonnie, plus developing convection will likely swing winds around to NE over ATL between 22-02z. Winds expected to shift back around to NW tomorrow mrng. Few-Sct cumulus develop by 17z but little to no convection expected. //ATL Confidence...18Z Update... Medium on wind direction. High all other elements. DJN.83 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Athens 62 90 65 88 / 20 20 10 20 Atlanta 67 88 69 87 / 10 20 5 20 Blairsville 60 83 60 83 / 20 20 10 30 Cartersville 63 88 62 89 / 20 20 5 20 Columbus 67 92 68 91 / 10 20 5 20 Gainesville 64 87 66 86 / 20 20 5 20 Macon 62 91 66 91 / 20 20 5 20 Rome 63 89 63 90 / 10 20 5 20 Peachtree City 61 89 63 88 / 10 20 5 20 Vidalia 65 90 69 90 / 10 20 10 20 && .FFC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SHORT TERM...DJN.83 LONG TERM....31 AVIATION...DJN.83
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA 915 AM EDT SUN MAY 29 2016 GAZ001>009-011>016-019>025-027-030>039-041>062-066>076-078>086- 089>098-102>113-301000- 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- 915 AM EDT SUN MAY 29 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER PORTIONS OF NORTH AND EAST CENTRAL GEORGIA THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. BRIEF WIND GUSTS TO 35 MPH ALONG WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN AND OCCASIONAL CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING WILL BE THE PRIMARY THREATS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY... THUNDERSTORM CHANCES GRADUALLY INCREASE THROUGH THE WEEK AS A MORE MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS RETURNS TO THE REGION. THE GREATEST CHANCE FOR MORE WIDESPREAD DEVELOPMENT LOOKS TO BE MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING PERIODS OF THURSDAY INTO SATURDAY AS A FRONTAL BOUNDARY APPROACHES THE STATE. WEATHER HAZARDS EXPECTED... THE PRIMARY HAZARDS FROM ANY THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE FREQUENT LIGHTNING...GUSTY WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH TONIGHT.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
649 PM EDT SUN MAY 29 2016
GAZ034-045>048-292315-
DEKALB GA-NEWTON GA-GWINNETT GA-ROCKDALE GA-WALTON GA-
649 PM EDT SUN MAY 29 2016
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTHEASTERN DEKALB...WESTERN
NEWTON...SOUTHERN GWINNETT...ROCKDALE AND WESTERN WALTON COUNTIES
UNTIL 715 PM EDT...
AT 648 PM EDT...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS NEAR SNELLVILLE...OR 9
MILES NORTH OF CONYERS...MOVING SOUTH AT 5 MPH.
HAZARD...UP TO 40 MPH WIND...HEAVY RAIN...AND A FEW LIGHTNING
STRIKES.
IMPACT...PEOPLE OUTDOORS SHOULD SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. EXPECT
MINOR DAMAGE TO TREE LIMBS AND BLOWING AROUND OF
LIGHT...UNSECURED OBJECTS. ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES SHOULD
NOT BE USED UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY. LOCALIZED FLOODING IN
LOW LYING AND POOR DRAINAGE AREAS IS ALSO LIKELY.
MOTORISTS SHOULD SLOW DOWN AND BE PREPARED FOR POSSIBLE
LOSS OF CONTROL DUE TO HYDROPLANING. WHEN WATER COVERS
THE ROAD...REMEMBER TO TURN AROUND DON'T DROWN.
SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE
CONYERS...SNELLVILLE...LOGANVILLE...STONE
MOUNTAIN...LITHONIA...GEORGIA INTERNATIONAL HORSE PARK...LAKEVIEW
ESTATES...MOUNTAIN PARK... SNAPFINGER...ARABIA
MOUNTAIN...BELMONT...MILSTEAD...BIG HAYNES CREEK PARK...REDAN AND
ROSEBUD.
LAT...LON 3388 8409 3383 8390 3355 8396 3369 8426
TIME...MOT...LOC 2248Z 017DEG 6KT 3380 8406The Atlanta radar (KFFC), 47 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:31 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Rockdale County 911 center reported trees blown down on Union Church Road, Smyrna Road and on Fairview Road.
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, May 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: 634254.