Hail — Gwinnett, Georgia

2009-04-10 · near Sugar Hill, Gwinnett, Georgia

Event narrative

The public observed golf ball-sized hail in the Sugar Hill and Lake Lanier/Buford Dam areas and penny to nickel-sized hail in the far northeast part of the county in the Chateau Elan area.

Wider weather episode

A vigorous upper closed low was moving from the mid-south and Mississippi valley region into the mid-Atlantic and southeast U.S. A strong cold front accompanied the upper system. A strong low-level jet in advance of these weather systems transported warm, moist Gulf air northward into the region. With strong dynamics, hence shear, combined with an unusually moist, unstable atmosphere, the atmosphere was primed for a major weather outbreak. One round of thunderstorms passed through north Georgia during the early morning hours. A few minor severe weather events accompanied this system in northwest Georgia. Partial clearing followed the morning convection, allowing temperatures to soar into the mid 70s across much of north and central Georgia in advance of the main weather system. Scattered to numerous discrete supercell thunderstorms developed during mid-afternoon in northwest Georgia and progressed east and southeast across the remaining portions of the county warning area during the evening hours. Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes lingered into the early morning hours of the 11th across the southern counties of central Georgia. During the eight hour period from 5 pm EDT on April 10th to 1 am EDT on April 11th, a total of 14 tornadoes were confirmed to have touched down in north and central Georgia causing millions in damages. While some injuries were observed, no deaths were observed.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.1000, -84.0824)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 164518. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.