Hail — Bibb, Georgia

2011-03-26 · near Skipperton, Bibb, Georgia

Event narrative

A storm spotter observed golf ball-sized hail just north of the Macon Regional Airport on Hartly Bridge Road. An amateur radio operator relayed a report of half-dollar-sized hail from southern Bibb county and a trained spotter observed quarter-sized hail in southern Bibb county, just west of Rutland.

Wider weather episode

A quasi-stationary frontal boundary extended from north Texas to north Georgia early on the 26th. The front took two to three days to move from north Georgia southward to the Gulf Coast. The upper flow was highly zonal, but embedded with numerous vigorous short waves. An unseasonably warm, unstable air mass presided south of the frontal boundary. Numerous areas and complexes of thunderstorms developed in waves repeatedly along the front boundary and plagued north and central Georgia for two to three days. Many counties across the area were impacted by golf ball and larger hail. There was one report of hail over four inches in diameter in west central Georgia near Newnan. While hail was the predominate severe weather type with this outbreak, there were several reports of damaging winds and even one tornado in central Georgia. In addition, there were several lightning incidents as many of the storms produced intense cloud-to-ground lightning.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.7142, -83.7426)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 290280. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.