The storm this morning was very intense. It developed west of Anniston, Ala. and began moving eastward at nearly 50 MPH. This storm developed into a mesoscale thunderstorm with counterclockwise rotation just west of Carroll County.
Tornado activity began at Bowdon and marched eastward to Carrollton. Then the storm did damage in extreme southern Douglas County and moved into extreme southern Fulton County. Tornado activity again occurred in the area. The storm continued eastward into northern Clayton County and then dropped another tornado at Ellenwood. There is debris in the Fairview area from these destroyed and damaged homes.
The path of the storm can be traced eastward across the Northern Henry County area by the downed trees and power lines. The storm moved into Rockdale County and straddled I-20 as it moved east into the Covington and Newton County areas. It moved on into the Madison area and finally held itself together long enough to enter extreme western SC just north of Augusta. This particular severe thunderstorm moved all the way across Georgia doing quite a bit of damage. The interesting aspect is that the storm only gained an altitude of roughly 22,000 ft. In contrast to the earlier in the year tornado of Atlanta that storm reached an altitude of about 19,000 ft. These storms are low level mesoscale features fueled by twisting winds in the levels just above the ground and the temperature which was 73 degrees F at
about 4:00AM. The dew point was another major factor at 68F. The moisture content of the lower atmosphere was also very high with humidity readings at 89%. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Severe Storms Forecast Center have been studying this phenomena for several years now. I am sure that we have not seen the last of this type of storm system.
The Doctor