Above normal rainfall across north and central GA during late February combined with a couple of waves of locally heavy rainfall across the Altamaha River basin created an extended Moderate River flood event.
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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 JAX wrote it up.
Above normal rainfall across north and central GA during late February combined with a couple of waves of locally heavy rainfall across the Altamaha River basin created an extended Moderate River flood event.
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 Jacksonville, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 1, 4:13 PM EST, 17 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Jacksonville FL 413 PM EST Sun Mar 1 2020 ...SIGNIFICANT WARMING TREND THROUGH MIDWEEK... ...STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE ON THURSDAY... .CURRENTLY... Late afternoon surface analysis depicts high pressure (1029 millibars) centered over coastal portions of the Carolinas. Aloft...zonal flow now prevails locally as troughing has exited into the western Atlantic waters, with a 150 knot jet streak over the Red River Valley of northern Texas nosing across the northern Gulf of Mexico spreading a veil of thin cirrus quickly eastward across the southeastern states. Low level winds have veered to south-southeasterly throughout our region, but a very dry air mass prevails this afternoon, with dewpoints at 21Z still in the 25-30 degree range inland and 30-35 at coastal locations. Full sunshine and the dry air mass have allowed high temperatures at inland locations to reach the 65-70 degree range, with a light onshore breeze keeping coastal highs generally in the lower 60s this afternoon. .NEAR TERM [Through Monday]... Cirrus cloud cover will gradually thicken from west to east after midnight as the aforementioned jet streak continues to nose into our region from the west. Otherwise, surface winds at inland locations will quickly decouple early this evening, with a light south-southeast breeze at coastal locations keeping lows around 50, while inland locations fall mostly to the low to mid 40s. A significant warming trend will commence on Monday as low level flow veers to southerly, with our local pressure gradient gradually tightening as weak low pressure takes shape along a frontal boundary near the Arklatex region. Fast zonal flow aloft will prevail, with an embedded shortwave trough moving across the lower Mississippi Valley potentially tapping enough moisture to develop isolated to widely scattered showers towards sunset for locations along and west of U.S. Highway 84 in southeast Georgia and also the northern Suwannee Valley in north Florida. Highs will reach the low to mid 70s region-wide, except upper 60s for coastal southeast Georgia. .SHORT TERM [Monday Night Through Wednesday Night]... Widely scattered showers are expected to develop over locations north of Interstate 10 on Monday night and Tuesday morning as warm frontogenesis takes shape. Light southerly winds and increasing cloud cover will keep lows mostly in the 55-60 degree range throughout our area. Shower activity will then slowly lift northward on Tuesday and Tuesday night as weak shortwave troughs continue to migrate across the southeastern states within a persistently fast zonal flow pattern downstream of a closed trough aloft that will be pivoting across northern Mexico and the Desert Southwest. Breezy southwesterly winds will boost highs to the 75-80 degree range area-wide on Tuesday, with a few lower 80s possible in north central Florida. Fog and low stratus clouds will develop late Tuesday night as a warm air advection pattern persists, keeping lows mostly in the lower 60s. The wavy frontal boundary in place over the southeastern states will then stall near the Altamaha and Ocmulgee River on Wednesday, focusing scattered to numerous afternoon showers and a few embedded thunderstorms for locations northwest of Waycross, while isolated convection may develop towards evening as far south as the Interstate 10 corridor. Increasing cloudiness will keep highs on Wednesday just below 80 for locations north of Waycross, ranging to the mid and upper 80s for north central Florida. Closed troughing will pivot east-northeastward across central and northeast Texas on Wednesday afternoon and evening, resulting in cyclogenesis along the upper Texas coast. This low pressure center will migrate along the northern Gulf coast states Wednesday night and should approach western portions of the Florida panhandle towards sunrise on Thursday. Deeper moisture will overspread our region from southwest to northeast on Wednesday night, with numerous showers and a few embedded thunderstorms over southeast Georgia, the Suwannee Valley and along the I-10 corridor, with scattered convection possible towards sunrise elsewhere for coastal northeast and north central Florida. Lows Wednesday night will only fall to the low to mid 60s. .LONG TERM [Thursday Through Sunday]... Closed upper troughing will open into a potent shortwave trough as it traverses the southeastern states on Thursday, moving offshore of the Carolinas by late Thursday night. Low pressure centered over the western Florida panhandle early on Thursday morning will continue on an east-northeast trajectory across southeast Georgia during the afternoon hours, placing northeast and north central Florida within the warm sector during the afternoon hours. Operational GFS guidance continues to come into better agreement with the operational ECMWF solution, which increases the threat for strong to severe thunderstorms to impact locations along and south of the I-10 corridor during the afternoon hours as impressive southwesterly speed shear overspreads our area. The Storm Prediction Center has already placed our area within severe weather probabilities (15%) for Thursday. Locally heavy rainfall will also be possible closer to the surface low across much of southeast Georgia, and widespread heavy rainfall across the southeastern states this week may eventually exacerbate ongoing river flooding for the main stem rivers in southeast Georgia such as the Ocmulgee, Altamaha and Satilla Rivers. High temperatures on Thursday will range from near 70 along the Altamaha River to the mid 80s in north central Florida. Low pressure will exit the southeast Georgia coastline on Thursday evening, with this system's cold front pushing southward through the Florida peninsula and cool air advection arriving overnight in southeast Georgia, where lows will fall into the 40s on the heels of breezy northwesterly winds. Troughing aloft will then gradually dig along the U.S. eastern seaboard into early portions of the weekend as a strong surface ridge over the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley builds into the southeastern states. Temperatures will fall below climatology, with frost and a potential light freeze next weekend for inland southeast Georgia. && .MARINE... High pressure centered along the Carolina coast will shift eastward over the western Atlantic waters this evening. Southerly winds will gradually strengthen on Monday well in advance of a frontal boundary that will gradually push into the southeastern states through midweek, with Caution conditions developing offshore by Monday evening and continuing through at least Tuesday evening as sustained winds reach 15-20 knots. Seas will build to 3-5 feet offshore and will remain 2-4 feet near shore. Low pressure will develop along the Texas Gulf coast by midweek and then move east-northeastward across our region on Thursday. Southwesterly winds will strengthen on Thursday, with increasing chances for showers and a few strong thunderstorms accompanied by building seas. Small Craft Advisory level seas are forecast offshore beginning on Thursday. Strong northwesterly winds are expected following the passage of this storm system on Thursday night and Friday, with Caution conditions expected near shore and Small Craft Advisory conditions prevailing offshore. && .FIRE WEATHER... A very dry air mass will remain in place through Monday morning. Long durations of critically low humidity values will prevail area-wide except at coastal locations through sunset this evening. Southeasterly surface and transport winds will begin to gradually increase around sunrise and will quickly shift to southerly by the mid-morning hours on Monday. These strengthening winds will combine with rising mixing heights and warmer temperatures to create marginally high dispersion values area-wide on Monday afternoon. Minimum relative humidity values will fall to around 40 percent along the U.S. Highway 301 corridor on Monday afternoon, with higher values elsewhere. Breezy southwesterly surface and transport winds are forecast for Tuesday. && .HYDROLOGY... Runoff from heavy rainfall during the past month over central and northern Georgia continues to be routed southeastward through the main stem rivers in southeast Georgia. Moderate flooding continues along all of the Altamaha River, with falling levels near Charlotteville and Baxley and a crest recently occurring at Doctortown. A crest is forecast early this week for downstream locations such as Doctortown. Minor flooding continues along portions of the Satilla, Alabaha and Little Satilla Rivers. Additional heavy rainfall throughout the southeastern states this week will likely result in another significant flood wave working its way through the main stem rivers next weekend and beyond. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... AMG 41 72 57 76 61 / 0 30 40 30 30 SSI 50 68 58 75 61 / 0 20 30 20 10 JAX 43 76 58 80 61 / 0 10 20 20 10 SGJ 51 74 60 80 62 / 0 10 20 10 0 GNV 44 75 57 79 62 / 0 10 20 10 0 OCF 45 75 56 80 61 / 0 10 10 10 0 && .JAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...None. GA...None. AM...None. &&
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Flooding along the Altamaha River caused water to enter homes. At the time of this report the Everett City stage was 16.19 ft. The record stage for this site is 16.8 ft and Major flooding begins at 17.0 ft.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Georgia in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Georgia, March 2020
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: 872076.