Hail — Douglas, Georgia

2011-06-15 · near Winston, Douglas, Georgia

Event narrative

Several reports of large damaging hail were received from across the northern half of Douglas county. The public observed baseball-sized hail in Douglasville. An amateur radio operator relayed a report of golf ball-sized hail in the northwest part of the county, near Winston. The public observed half-dollar-sized hail in the eastern part of the county near Lithia Springs.

Wider weather episode

An unusually active northwest flow was present across the eastern U.S. on the east side of a strong subtropical ridge anchored in the southwest U.S. A weak stationary front was draped across west central and central Georgia. A strong disturbance near the Great Lakes was tracking through the flow. A very warm, moist, and unstable atmosphere was in place across Georgia. The strong disturbance moving through the area combined with the unstable atmosphere and the weak stationary front to provide for widespread strong to severe thunderstorms. During the initial development phase of this event, through the afternoon and early evening, the primary form of severe weather was in the form of large hail. As the evening progressed, the convective activity took on an increasingly linear organization producing significant and widespread damaging straight-line winds. The main focus of the activity was across the northeast half of the state. While the activity diminished overnight, it redeveloped on the 16th in two waves. One round of isolated severe thunderstorms affected the west central part of the state during the mid-morning hours, while another round of isolated severe thunderstorms affected the south central and southeast parts of Middle Georgia during the early evening.

This was the second consecutive year where June 15th turned out to be one of the most significant severe weather days of the summer.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.7300, -84.8948)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 322524. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.