Hall County escaped Saturday’s overnight storms with little to show for them except power outages.
“Hall County saw less than 25 roadway impacts from fallen trees and powerlines throughout the evening into this morning…” the county’s Emergency Management & Homeland Security Director Zach Brackett said about noon Sunday. “Rain, thunder and high winds were the most impactful between 2 and 4 a.m. and there were no tornados in our area.”
Hall County appears to have been one of the hardest hit areas in the state (excluding Fulton County) for Georgia Power. As of 1:30 Sunday afternoon it still had 349 customers in the dark, second only at that that time to Haralson County where there were 674 still without power.
Some Hall County churches cancelled some or all of their Sunday services because of power outages.
Today’s cool breeze which helped push the stormy weather out of here is ushering in much cooler weather. The weather service says we are in for a week’s worth of lows in the 30s and 40s and highs most days in the 60s.
EARLIER STORY. POSTED 8:15 A.M.:
Nearly all of Jackson EMC’s (JEMC’s) 268,000 members now have power after storms rolled through our 10-county service area early this morning.
The remaining nine outages, which impact 65 members, are being addressed. Linemen worked through the night and will continue working to restore outages as quickly as conditions and safety procedures allow until all outages are repaired, according to spokeswoman Wendy Jones.
As of 7:30 a.m. remaining outages were impacting members in Hall (54) and Lumpkin (11) counties.
For real-time outage information, see the outage map available here: www.jacksonemc.com/storm.
(97.5 GLORY FM/SRN NEWS/AP)
Things calmed down quickly as the overnight storms exited our area about 5:00 this morning.
Data collected by the National Weather Service (NWS) at the Gainesville airport show winds went from 30 mph at 4:00 to “calm” at 5:00. The top gust overnight was recorded about 2:00 – 44 mph. Rainfall at the airport totaled about half-an-inch between 11:00 last night and 5:00 this morning.
The hardest hit areas in Georgia appear to be the mountain counties, metro Atlanta, and west and northwest Georgia.
Thousands are still without power across north Georgia. Georgia Power reported 34,933 outages at 6:00, Georgia EMCs, 30,357. Most of those in those hardest hit areas. The storms are now southeast of us, approaching the Georgia coast.
Nationwide, at least 42 weather-related deaths, none in Georgia, have been reported – resulting from tornadoes, dust storms, and fires. Tornadoes, wildfires and blinding dust sweep across US as massive storm leaves at least 32 dead – SRN News
EARLIER STORY. POSTED 5:15 A.M.:
The storm that hit Georgia about midnight moved out of our area about 5:00 this morning but thousands across northeast Georgia remain without power.
Most of the outages as of 5:00 were in the mountains, in areas served by Blue Ridge, Amicalola, and Habersham EMCs.
Jackson EMC reports 1,319 without power. The hardest hit counties in its service area are at this hour are Franklin, Hall, Gwinnett and Banks counties.
There were no official reports of damage locally although some trees fell victim to the storm.
EARLIER STORY. POSTED 1:45 A M :
Power outages are being reported in the Gainesville area.
The hardest hit provider at this hour is Amicalola EMC, which serves a wide area from Dawson and Lumpkin counties to Ellijay and Jasper. Web Outage Viewer
Cumming-based Sawnee EMC had the next highest number. GPC Outage Map
Jackson EMC had nearly a hundred outages in Hall County and just a handful in Gwinnett. Map Viewer
Habersham E MC was reporting no outages. Map Viewer
Georgia Power’s hardest hit areas were in metro Atlanta and west and northwest Georgia with very few outages in northeast Georgia. GPC Outage Map
EARLIER STORY. POSTED 12:15 A.M.:
Tornada warnings have been issued within the past hour for a number of places in metro Atlanta as the storms you have probably been hearing about week all continue to track to the east toward Gainesville and Vicinity.
Among the areas where tornado warnings have been issued are Cobb and Paulding counties. There have been no early indications of any damage or whether any twisters touched down. And just past midnight a warning was sounded for Cherokee County. Winds of near 90 mph have been reported in some of these areas.
A Tornado Watch remains in effect for a large part of Georgia until 4:00 Sunday morning. (Outlined in yellow on accompanying map.)
Locally, frequent lightning has been occurring the last hour or so and wind gusts of up to 28 mph have been recorded at the Gainesville airport.
EARLIER STORY. POSTED AT 9:30 P.M. SATURDAY:
FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE:
“A Tornado Watch is now in effect for portions of north and west Georgia until 4 AM Sunday morning. #gawx“
It also includes Forsyth, Dawson, Lumpkin and White counties.
EARLIER STORY. POSTED 6:00 P.M. SATURDAY:
(GLORY 97.5/SRN NEWS/AP)
At least 17 people have already been killed (as of 6:00 p.m.) by the storm system now moving into Georgia. And Gov. Kemp has declared a State of Emergency which grants emergency powers to state agencies to mobilize resources, activate emergency operations, and respond to storm damage and power outages. It will remain in effect until midnight Tuesday.
FROM THE NWS:
“A tornado watch has been issued for parts of Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee (see map) until 1 AM EDT.
NOTE: An additional watch is likely for areas further south later this evening.”
Meanwhile, the storm system headed our way has already touched off violent tornadoes that ripped through parts of the U.S. proving deadly as well as destructive as whipping winds moved east into the Mississippi Valley and Deep South on Saturday, with at least 17 people killed and scores of homes decimated. Details here: Monster storm across the US sparks scores of tornadoes and fire, killing at least 17 – SRN News
FROM THE NWS:
"WIND ADVISORY...IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 AM EDT SUNDAY...
* WHAT...South winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 45 mph. Locally
higher gusts possible at elevations above 2000 feet.
* WHERE...Portions of central, east central, north central,
northeast, northwest, and west central Georgia. (EDITOR'S NOTE: See map. Large area from the mountains into south Georgia is the affected area.)
* WHEN...Until 5 AM EDT Sunday.
* IMPACTS...Gusty winds will blow around unsecured objects. Tree
limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Winds this strong can make driving difficult, especially for high
profile vehicles. Use extra caution. Secure outdoor objects.
***EARLIER STORY. POSTED 1:00 P.M. SATURDAY:
FROM THE NWS:
“Here is a rough timing of the greatest chance for severe weather. Thunderstorms, some even strong to severe, could still occur outside of these times. Stay tuned for further updates. #gawx”
***EARLIER STORY. POSTED 10:00 A.M. SATURDAY:
FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE (NWS):
“Changes of note:
The moderate risk (Level 4 of 5) has been expanded to include more of northwest GA due to increasing confidence in a damaging wind threat.”
At 10:00, a line of strong thunderstorms was moving into northwest Georgia just south of Chattanooga, tracking to the northeast.
You can keep up with the latest information at two NWS Peachtree City sites and the Hall County EMA Facebook page:
(20+) Facebook (NWS)
Peachtree City, GA (NWS)
(20+) Facebook (Hall EMA)
***EARLIER STORY. POSTED 7:30 A.M. SATURDAY:
(SRN NEWS/AP/97.5 GLORY FM)
A dynamic storm system threatening to spawn powerful tornadoes and hail as big as baseballs has earned a relatively rare designation from forecasters: A “high risk” day of severe weather.
Parts of Missouri, Iowa and Illinois saw some of the most extreme weather on Friday, with the system now taking aim at southern states.
“Numerous significant tornadoes, some of which should be long-track and potentially violent, are expected on Saturday afternoon and evening,” the federal Storm Prediction Center said in its latest forecast.
The Storm Prediction Center uses five categories to warn of expected severe weather, ranging from marginal to high. Its forecast maps are color-coded, with the lowest risk areas in green and the highest shown in magenta.
On Saturday, that area of highest risk includes parts of Mississippi and Alabama.
The “high risk” designation is used when severe weather is expected to include “numerous intense and long-tracked tornadoes” or thunderstorms producing hurricane-force wind gusts and inflicting widespread damage, according to the agency’s product descriptions.
On many days when the “high risk” designation was used in recent years, the forecasts became reality.
HALL COUNTY, JEMC PREPARE
Hall County’s severe weather threat for Saturday night into Sunday morning has increased over the past few days. This will be an overnight event that occurs while many are asleep.
The accompanying map shows that the county is still in a Level 3 (out of 5) warning area (orange) for heavy rains, strong gusty winds, possible tornadoes, and flooding.
What you should do to prepare for the worst?
*Identify a location to go to in the event of a warning such as an interior room in the lowes level of your home.
*Have your phones fully charged and alternate sources of light such as a flashlight.
*Go to alerts.hallcounty.org to sign up for weather alerts and have another notification method, such as a NOAA All Hazards Weather Radio.
Hall County Emergency Management reminds us that “outdoor warning sirens are designed to notify people who are outdoors to go indoors, not to wake you up while you are asleep inside your home. Do not count them as a notification method.”
Meanwhile, Jackson EMC (JEMC) has its own crews as well as contract crews standing by to respond power outages as soon as it’s safe to do so. And the electric co-op says to treat all downed utility lines, be they power, cable or telephone, as if they are “live” and leave them alone.