A couple of days of severe weather impacted southern Georgia on May 23rd and 24th. Two EF0 tornadoes occurred, and some straight line wind damage also occurred with impacts to trees and power lines.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 TAE wrote it up.
A couple of days of severe weather impacted southern Georgia on May 23rd and 24th. Two EF0 tornadoes occurred, and some straight line wind damage also occurred with impacts to trees and power lines.
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 May 20, 6:32 PM EST, 42 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Tallahassee FL
732 PM EDT Sat May 20 2017
.AVIATION [Through 00Z Monday]...
Isolated TSRA will continue this evening. A band of numerous SHRA/
scattered TSRA, currently organizing across south MS/southwest
AL, will likely move east across much of our forecast area late
tonight through Sunday morning. This should affect KDHN, KECP, and
KABY between 06Z and 12Z, then perhaps KTLH and KVLD between 12Z
and 16Z. Some of these storms may have gusts to 35 KT and brief
periods of IFR Vis. It's unclear when (and if) the PBL will
"recover" (in terms of acquiring CAPE) later Sunday to produce
more deep moist convection, so we are not forecasting re-
development of TSRA in this TAF package.
&&
.PREV DISCUSSION [353 PM EDT]...
.NEAR TERM [Through Tonight]...
Deep layer moisture continues to increase ahead of an approaching
upper level trough and associated cold front. Scattered convection
currently lifting northward mainly over SE AL and our Georgia zones
will diminish later this evening. However, new convective
development, possibly an MCS will approach and move into our western
zones overnight. PoPs will be tapered from likely (70%) far west to
chance (30-40%) for most of the eastern Big Bend. Lows will be in
the lower 70s.
.SHORT TERM [Sunday Through Monday Night]...
Deep layer ridging will gradually break down through the period as
a shortwave moving through the Great Lakes region amplifies and
spreads into the Mississippi Valley. At the surface, a frontal
boundary will just be entering the Southeast on Sunday and will
only gradually move towards the Tri-State region as steering flow
remains mostly zonal as the upper trough slowly amplifies.
On the mesoscale, the aforementioned MCS (whose evolution is still
a bit uncertain) should be moving through southeast Alabama and
the Florida panhandle early Sunday morning. This complex should
generally trend towards moving into the Gulf through the morning.
This should tend to limit convection west of a line from
Tallahassee through Albany during the afternoon, with
outflow/seabreeze driven convection expected to the east. While
the front won't be in our area by Sunday night, more convection
moving off of the front could enter the region overnight. On
Monday, with the front reaching our westernmost Alabama and
Florida counties, convection will likely be driven by the front as
well as the seabreeze further to the east. Overnight on Monday, a
southern stream shortwave will enhance convection along the front
along and west of a line from Albany through Panama city.
Due to the potential for a couple MCS' as well as the multiple
forcing mechanism, this solution is highly fluid and uncertain.
However, regardless of exactly how it plays out, it appears as
though most of the region should pick up a fair amount of QPF.
Through Monday night, average rainfall amounts could range from an
inch in the southeast Big Bend to 3-4" across the far western
Panhandle and southeast Alabama. Widespread severe weather is not
expected though an isolated strong to severe storm with the main
threat being damaging winds will be possible
.LONG TERM [Tuesday Through Saturday]...
With the cold front still lingering across the region on Tuesday,
it appears as though another southern stream wave will energize
the front once again late on Tuesday. It won't be until Wednesday
evening that the main northern stream trough will have moved far
enough southeast to force the cold front through the region. In
its wake dry conditions will prevail through the period with
possibly one night of lows in the upper 50s and an afternoon in
the lower 80s.
.MARINE...
Borderline Cautionary level winds will continue through this
evening before light winds and low seas will prevail through
Monday night. As the front nears and then passes Tuesday through
Thursday, wind should increase to at least Cautionary levels and
possibly Advisory. Showers and thunderstorms should be expected
through Wednesday night.
.FIRE WEATHER...
No fire weather concerns are anticipated through the next few days
with light winds and RH values remaining too high to meet critical
thresholds.
.HYDROLOGY...
Widespread average rainfall amounts from now until Wednesday night
could range from 3" over the southeast Big Bend to 6" over the
western Panhandle. Isolated higher amounts a couple inches higher
will be possible as well. Latest ensemble guidance indicates that
these amounts could push our more sensitive rivers (Shoal,
Choctawhatchee, Ochlockonee, etc.) into Action stage. By Thursday
or Friday. These amounts still remain rather uncertain, so pay
attention to changes over the next few days.
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
Tallahassee 71 86 71 85 71 / 30 50 30 60 30
Panama City 74 79 73 80 74 / 60 80 50 50 40
Dothan 71 83 69 86 69 / 50 80 50 50 60
Albany 71 86 69 86 70 / 40 50 50 50 60
Valdosta 70 86 70 83 71 / 40 70 40 70 30
Cross City 70 89 71 88 72 / 40 50 20 40 20
Apalachicola 75 86 73 85 74 / 30 50 40 50 20
&&
.TAE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
FL...High Rip Current Risk until 11 PM EDT /10 PM CDT/ this evening
for Coastal Bay-Coastal Gulf-South Walton.
GA...None.
AL...None.
GM...None.
&&
NEAR TERM...Barry
SHORT TERM...Harrigan
LONG TERM...Harrigan
AVIATION...Fournier
MARINE...Harrigan
FIRE WEATHER...Lahr
HYDROLOGY...HarriganPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
732 PM EDT SAT MAY 20 2017
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0600 PM TSTM WND DMG 2 SSE GREATER SALEM CHU 31.50N 85.75W
05/20/2017 DALE AL 911 CALL CENTER
TREES REPORTED DOWN ON COUNTY RD 108
&&
RHPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
734 PM EDT SAT MAY 20 2017
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0600 PM NON-TSTM WND DMG 5 SSW ARITON 31.54N 85.75W
05/20/2017 DALE AL 911 CALL CENTER
TREES REPORTED DOWN ON COUNTY RD 11
&&
RHPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
735 PM EDT SAT MAY 20 2017
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0600 PM TSTM WND DMG 5 SSW ARITON 31.54N 85.75W
05/20/2017 DALE AL 911 CALL CENTER
TREES REPORTED DOWN ON COUNTY RD 11
&&
RHThe Moody AFB radar (KVAX), 25 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:15 UTC.
7 thunderstorm wind, 3 tornado, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Damage occurred to privacy fences at 2 different properties in the area. A large trampoline was blown away and could not be found, and a sign was blown down. Damage cost was estimated.
Damage consisted primarily of minor tree damage. A single family home suffered minor roof damage, and a carport collapsed along Fountain Bridge Road. This tornado was rated EF0 with peak winds estimated near 80 mph. Damage cost was estimated.
The public submitted an mping report of wind damage. Tree limbs blown down or shingle damage was reported.
A tree was blown down and resulted in a power outage via the Georgia Power outage website.
A tree was blown down on Highway 82 between Graves and Dawson.
An EF1 tornado with max winds estimated near 90 mph touched down in Lee county and moved in Sumter county. The EF1 damage was due to trees, and no structures were impacted in Lee county.
Trees, power lines, and street signs were blown down near County Road 300 in Oakfield.
This tornado started near the intersection of Hutchinson Parrish and Howard Bennett Roads and moved north-northeast across an open field, growing in size to roughly 0.3 miles wide. The tornado then impacted an irrigation pivot along the south side of Boone Road, before impacting several residences on the north side of Boone Road. While there were sporadic instances of trees uprooted or snapped, all structural damage associated with this tornado was minor and mainly limited to the loss of metal roofs and shingles. Damage cost was estimated.
A tree was blown down on Shane Circle.
A tree was blown down on Lucile Street.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Georgia in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Georgia, 2017Warnings in Georgia, May 2017
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: 689102, 689098, 689103, 689104, 689105, 696037, 689107, 689108, 689101, 689109, 689110.