A strong cold front associated with a sharp mid-level short wave swept into northwest Georgia in the early morning hours. Isolated reports of damaging thunderstorm winds were received across portions of northwest and west central Georgia.
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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 FFC wrote it up.
A strong cold front associated with a sharp mid-level short wave swept into northwest Georgia in the early morning hours. Isolated reports of damaging thunderstorm winds were received across portions of northwest and west central 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 Apr 3, 10:17 PM EST, 1 hour 48 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Peachtree City GA 1117 PM EDT Tue Apr 3 2018 .UPDATE... Severe thunderstorm watch issued for nw GA until 300 pm. Not sure if the storms will hold together to be severe but it's too close a call. BDL && .PREV DISCUSSION... /Issued 840 PM EDT Tue Apr 3 2018/ UPDATE... There is really no change to the forecast. Continuing to watch the potential for showers and thunderstorms to move into nw GA close to midnight or maybe slightly late, and move across the area through midday Wednesday. Still a marginal to a slight risk for severe storms favoring portions of n and w GA. BDL PREV DISCUSSION... /Issued 700 PM EDT Tue Apr 3 2018/ SHORT TERM /Tonight through Wednesday Night/... Main focus for period initially is the strong to isolated severe storm potential tonight into tomorrow morning with an amplifying trough/strengthening jet dynamics from the west and a rather robust attendant cold front. Some hi-res guidance has had indications that some convection could become more outflow-driven with a quicker propagation to the south and west early in the morning, which could limit coverage of showers/storms farther NE. Have not bought in on this since has been more consensus on overall scattered development oriented more along the frontal forcing. Shear environment is impressive and enough low level helicity to continue an isolated tornado potential. Still thinking greatest threat would be damaging winds. Could attain CAPE values upwards of 1000 J/kg given the most unstable parcel, otherwise looks to be in 400-600 range. System should have some gradual weakening by sunrise tomorrow as the pops become more confined to central GA (lingering isolated storm threat, though more general in nature for into midday before all has exited SE). Otherwise expect a blustery day with clearing skies due to enhanced gradient winds with strong CAA. Will need to watch wind mags flirting with advisory levels (especially in the northern higher elevations) with future updates if confidence or values increase any. Wednesday night should have most areas in the mid to upper 30s and for now it looks reasonable for the far NE mtns to hit the freezing mark. Have therefore issued a Freeze Watch accordingly into Thursday AM. Frost is possible but for now seems too uncertain to include mention given some lingering winds. Something else to watch nonetheless. Baker LONG TERM /Thursday through Tuesday/... Long term forecast largely on track. After an initial dry start, expect two main weather systems to mark the extended period - one Friday afternoon through Saturday, and another early Monday through Tuesday. Minor adjustments have been made to refresh pops and wx with the latest model trends. More significant revisions have been made to the temperatures and dewpoints, particularly for the Friday through Monday period, with the latest model guidance a little slower in bringing the dry air mass into the region through the weekend. Previous forecast discussion follows... 31 LONG TERM /Wednesday Night through Monday/... The long term begins in between systems. The next in a series of short waves and associated fronts will move into the CWA Friday. With a near zonal flow the front will stall across Georgia, most likely across central and south Georgia. Weak waves will move along this front through the end of the long term. This will keep chances of showers/tstorms over the CWA beginning Friday and continuing into early next week. Models are in good agreement with the first wave Friday and Saturday and have gone with likely to categorical pops. Models differ somewhat on the next short wave but they do agree on moving it across the CWA Sunday night and into Monday night. 17 AVIATION... 00Z Update... VFR conditions to start with increasing potential for lower MVFR ceilings overnight and into Wednesday. Potential for line of showers and storms to move across area overnight and into Wednesday. Conditions improving during the day Wednesday. Surface winds SSW 6-12 kts overnight becoming W-N late tonight and Wednesday 12-18 kts with gusts around 25 kts or higher. //ATL Confidence...00Z Update... Low confidence for ceiling heights overnight and early Wednesday. Medium confidence for all other elements. BDL && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Athens 61 64 36 65 / 60 60 0 0 Atlanta 54 61 38 65 / 80 50 0 0 Blairsville 44 51 30 61 / 80 40 0 0 Cartersville 48 58 34 65 / 80 40 0 0 Columbus 62 67 40 70 / 70 70 0 0 Gainesville 55 58 37 62 / 80 50 0 0 Macon 63 66 38 68 / 60 60 0 0 Rome 46 58 35 65 / 80 30 0 0 Peachtree City 57 63 35 67 / 80 60 0 0 Vidalia 62 72 43 69 / 20 60 5 0 && .FFC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 3 AM EDT Wednesday for the following zones: Bartow...Catoosa...Chattooga...Dade...Floyd... Gordon...Haralson...Murray...Polk...Walker...Whitfield. Freeze Watch from late Wednesday night through Thursday morning for the following zones: Dawson...Fannin...Gilmer...Lumpkin... Towns...Union...White. && SHORT TERM...BDL LONG TERM....22 AVIATION...BDL
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Peachtree City GA 916 PM EDT Tue Apr 3 2018 GAZ001>009-011>016-019>025-027-030>039-041>062-066>076-078>086- 089>098-102>113-041200- 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- 916 PM EDT Tue Apr 3 2018 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of North and Central Georgia. .DAY ONE...Tonight... Strong to severe storms are possible across north and west central Georgia tonight. A strong cold front will move out of the Mississippi Valley and into north and central Georgia late tonight. A line of showers and thunderstorms will move into northwest Georgia around midnight, and move through north and into central Georgia by sunrise. A few of these storms could be strong to severe with damaging winds, although an isolated tornado is also possible. The main area of concern is generally north of a line from LaGrange to Athens, and between the hours of midnight and 6 AM. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday... The cold front will continue moving across central Georgia Wednesday and this will keep a chance of thunderstorms across central Georgia. A few of these storms could be strong with gusty winds. Freezing temperatures are possible across the northeast mountains late Wednesday night and Thursday morning. A Freeze Watch has been issued for 4 AM to 9 AM Thursday for northeast Georgia. A strong storm system will move into north and central Georgia Monday bringing scattered to widespread showers and thunderstorms. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not requested but spotters are encouraged to submit reports of severe weather through the web by going to weather.gov/atlanta.
The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 49 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 05:07 UTC.
7 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Dade County Emergency Manager reported multiple trees blown down in the New Home area.
The Walker County 911 center reported multiple trees and power lines blown down from the Chattanooga Valley area to Lafayette. A half dozen trees were downed around the intersection of Chattanooga Valley Road and East Avenue.
The Catoosa County Emergency Manager reported a tree blown down onto power lines along Burning Bush Road between Battleview Drive and Three Notch Road.
The Floyd County Emergency Manager reported a couple of trees blown down in the Rome area, including along Blacks Bluff Road and along Vaughn Road.
The Whitfield County 911 center reported a tree blown down along Kinnett Drive in the Dalton area.
The public reported a tree blown down across Clover Road near Old Highway 41.
An off-duty National Weather Service employee reported a tree blown down on Winfair Drive near Tyrone.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Georgia in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in Georgia, April 2018
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: 744061, 744064, 744066, 744067, 744068, 744069, 744070.