Hurricane (Typhoon) — Bacon, Georgia

2024-09-27 to 2024-09-28 · Bacon, Georgia

Event narrative

The Alma GA ASOS owned and maintained by the NWS JAX office reported a sustained 56 mph with a gust near 100 mph from the SSE at 3:30am. There was significant damage to a couple of roofs and the building facade along 12th St in Alma, GA. A large tree fell and destroyed a trailer in Alma.

On 9/27 at 2:08 am, the ASOS station at the Bacon County Airport in Alma measured a gust of 86 mph. At 2:49 am, the ASOS measured a wind gust of 91 mph which was the highest thus far on record at that location. At 3:03 am, the sensor measured a gust of 100 mph from the SSE, the all-time record wind gust of this location. A nearby UGA Weatherstem site also measured a max gust of 88mph from the SSE at about 2:45am.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Helene made landfall as a category 4 with peak winds of near 140 mph in the Florida Big

Bend just east of the Aucilla River Entrance in Taylor County, late Thursday evening September 26,

2024. Helene's main impact to southeast Georgia and northeast Florida was wind damage as it

tracked quickly north-northeast. The very powerful hurricane and the forward motion produced a

wide swath of wind damage across the forecast area with peak wind gusts 55 to 75 mph across the

eastern half of the area, and western zones up to 75 to 100 mph from the Suwannee Valley area

northward through interior southeast GA. The max wind gust of 100 mph was measured at the Alma

GA ASOS in the early morning hours of Friday September 27th. Given the strength of these winds,

widespread power outages, structure damage and downed or uprooted trees occurred across inland

southeast GA and portions of northeast FL. At least 1 tornado occurred, which was in Coffee county.

Maximum rainfall amounts of 3 to 5 inches were located over western half of the area.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1217234. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.