Severe Weather Across North Georgia - February 28, 2011

Severe Weather Across North Georgia

February 28, 2011

An upper level low ejected out of the southwest U.S. Sunday evening and tracked across the central plains and Ohio Valley as a shortwave. The surface feature tracked across the southern plains and into the Tennessee Valley on Monday and eventually continued to the northeast. As the low pressure system progressed eastward, a cold front swept though the southeast. A few showers were noted overnight Sunday into Monday but the main line of storms moved into northwest Georgia around lunchtime on Monday with the showers and thunderstorms ending across most of north and central Georgia by midnight. A tornado watch was issued in the early afternoon for all of north and parts of central Georgia and during the late afternoon a severe thunderstorm watch was issued for portions of central Georgia. All together, the National Weather Service issued fifteen severe thunderstorm warnings and three tornado warnings.

The hardest hit area from the line of storms that swept across Georgia was the northern portion of the state. Thirty-nine reports of damage were relayed to the National Weather Service with all of the reports being from north Georgia. Reports ranged from half dollar sized hail in Cherokee and Fulton counties to structure damage and trees down in Cherokee county. Although a tornado warning was issued for portions of Cherokee county, a damage survey performed by the Cherokee County Emergency Management office revealed all damage was caused by straight-line winds. The hardest hit area was along Kellogg Creek Road. Twenty-one structures were damaged including two of which were homes that were deemed to be uninhabitable. For more details on the weather reports received see the Local Storm Reports.

Line of Strong Storms that Produced Severe Weather in North Georgia on February 28