S. resulted in a tightening pressure gradient across north and central Georgia through the afternoon and evening of November 28th into the early morning hours of the 29th.
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.
A deep low pressure system moving out of the plains into the eastern U.S. resulted in a tightening pressure gradient across north and central Georgia through the afternoon and evening of November 28th into the early morning hours of the 29th. A strong low-level jet ahead of this low pressure system resulted in a period of very strong and damaging winds across the higher elevations of far north Georgia.
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 Nov 28, 8:45 PM EST, 19 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Peachtree City GA 845 PM EST Mon Nov 28 2016 .UPDATE... Regional radar shows leading edge of the precip approaching NW GA at this time. Have made some additional adjustments to the pops grids...mainly for timing again. The line has only slowed down a little bit. Have also made some adjustments to the MIN T grid. Strong WAA ahead of the system will limit cooling. However, do think temps will drop in the rain cooled air...just not confident that areas south of the system will make it into the lower 60s. No changes to the wind grids/headlines at this time. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /Issued 148 PM EST Mon Nov 28 2016/ SHORT TERM /Tonight through Tuesday Night/... Models are in generally agreement with the short term. The biggest differences are in the location of the deepest moisture and timing of the exit Tuesday. Showers and a few tstorms will spread into northwest Georgia late this afternoon...spreading over much of north Georgia this evening. The NAM/SREF keep the deepest moisture and hence the highest pops across north Georgia with very little across central GA. The GFS/ECMWF spread the moisture into central Georgia by Tuesday morning...but all models exit the precip from the west Tuesday morning and afternoon. Have gone with a compromise on pops through the short term. Instability increases somewhat tonight and have kept slight chance tstorms. Instability increase a little more on Tuesday...however the deepest moisture will have already pulled into the Carolinas. That being said...have kept the risk of thunderstorms in the grids Tuesday and also Tuesday night ahead of the next surge of moisture. Per the High Wind Warning/Wind Advisory...have made no changes to the locations of the warning and advisory. Sustained winds have already reach 20 mph at Covenant College on Lookout Mountain with gusts to near 30 mph at some of the RAWs sites. The highest winds speeds should be experienced this evening as the LLJ core moves across northwest Georgia. Winds will decrease after midnight as the LLJ pulls to the northeast. Although winds will be diminishing after midnight tonight...some of the higher elevations could continue to see wind gusts above 35 mph. 17 LONG TERM /Wednesday through Monday/... Only tweaks to the long term based on the latest guidance. A wet Wednesday into Wednesday night continues to be in store for much of the forecast area. PREVIOUS DISCUSSION... Active weather to start the long-term period with next round of precip...including thunderstorms...on the way. Main feature of focus in the mid/upper level will be a positively tilted shortwave trough pushing east from the Southern Plains. Divergence in the right entrance region of 140+kt upper jet ahead of this wave will help induce a sfc wave along a frontal boundary draped across MS Valley...helping increase lower level dynamics as well as Gulf moisture. Frontal boundary will migrate toward and thru the local area Tues night through Wed. Wednesday: Squall line associated with frontal boundary will be moving SE across the state. To keep thunderstorm threat going we will need to have instability linger thru the day...and with ample cloud cover expected diurnal heating will not amount to much...but moist boundary layer may be enough to maintain a couple hundred J/KG. This makes ongoing severe potential somewhat fuzzy...but upper level support will be on the increase...while strong low-mid level flow keeps shear/helicity values high. Do think risk is there...but regardless of severe weather...heavy rain will be a sure bet...with up to several inches of rain expected across north Ga into portions of central Ga. Given drought conditions... do not expect flooding to be a big threat at this time. See hydrology section for details. Will dry out and return to Fall on Thursday into the weekend under high pressure influence behind the departing front. Closed mid-level low will develop across NW Mexico by Friday...leading into what looks to be another decent rainfall event at the end of the period. Kovacik HYDROLOGY... Storm total rainfall of around 2 to 4 inches can be expected over north and portions of west central GA into Thursday morning and should quickly be absorbed by the dry soils. Creek and river rises will be generally small. However...any heavy downpours of rain in urban or suburban areas may cause localized street flooding due to clogged storm drains from leaf debris. Aviation... Three main changes for the 00z TAFs. The first change was to delay the onset of precip by an hour or two. The second changes was to add a tempo group for the leading edge. Within the leading edge, winds could gusts up to 40kt in any thunder. The third major change was to bring winds behind the leading edge of the rainfall back to the SE. //ATL Confidence...00Z Update... Medium all elements. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Athens 68 61 73 62 / 10 60 60 80 Atlanta 68 62 75 64 / 10 60 60 90 Blairsville 55 54 68 59 / 20 90 80 90 Cartersville 67 62 76 64 / 20 70 60 90 Columbus 71 66 77 66 / 10 50 60 80 Gainesville 66 59 71 62 / 20 70 70 90 Macon 75 64 78 64 / 10 50 50 40 Rome 68 61 75 62 / 20 90 70 90 Peachtree City 69 63 75 64 / 10 60 60 80 Vidalia 73 64 80 63 / 5 10 30 20 && .FFC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... High Wind Warning until 7 AM EST Tuesday FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: Chattooga...Dade...Dawson...Fannin...Gilmer...Lumpkin... Murray...Pickens...Towns...Union...Walker...White. Wind Advisory until 7 AM EST Tuesday FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: Bartow...Catoosa...Floyd...Gordon...Haralson...Polk...Whitfield. && SHORT TERM... AVIATION...
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA 408 PM EST MON NOV 28 2016 GAZ001>009-011>016-019>025-027-030>039-041>062-066>076-078>086- 089>098-102>113-290915- 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- 408 PM EST MON NOV 28 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT... A HIGH WIND WARNING FOR THE MOUNTAINS AND A WIND ADVISORY WILL BE IN EFFECT FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH GEORGIA OVERNIGHT. PLEASE SEE THE LATEST HIGH WIND WARNING AND WIND ADVISORY STATEMENTS FOR FURTHER DETAILS. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER NORTH AND PORTIONS OF WEST CENTRAL GEORGIA OVERNIGHT. OCCASIONAL LIGHTNING CAN BE EXPECTED. BRIEF HEAVY DOWNPOURS WILL BE POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY... A STRONG STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE INTO THE SOUTHEAST UNITED STATES BRINGING MUCH NEEDED RAIN TO NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA TUESDAY THROUGH EARLY THURSDAY. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WITH A MARGINAL RISK OF SEVERE STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. OCCASIONAL CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING WILL BE LIKELY WITH THE THUNDERSTORMS. A FEW OF THESE STORMS COULD HAVE STRONG DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED FOR FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH TONIGHT.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 strong wind, 2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Armuchee RAWS site, naog1, reported a wind gust of 45 MPH.
The Cohutta RAWS site, cohg1, reported a wind gust of 52 MPH.
A trained spotter reported multiple power lines blown down in the Wood Station area. Over 1000 customers of the local electric coop were without power.
The highway department reported trees blown down around the intersection of Highway 193 and Estelle Cemetery 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, November 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: 662413, 662414, 662416, 662415.