06/11/2025
Well the NWS came and surveyed the damage area and concluded straight line winds were the cause of the widespread damage. Very strong straight line winds at that. Here is their report. Excuse any formatting issues as I copied and pasted the below text.
Jason
..NWS Damage Survey for June 7, 2025 Significant Straight Line Wind Event...
Overview...A very strong thunderstorm complex and associated line of thunderstorms
moved across northern GA during the afternoon and early evening hours Saturday June 7, 2025.
A very strong rear inflow jet developed, visible on the HTX radar, and resulted in a long lived
bowing line which traversed a 50+ mile long path from Pickens to Banks County. The end result
was a straight line wind event causing tree damage along that 50+ mile path including
embedded areas of more significant tree damage where microbursts were occurring. While other
damage was noted across many portions of northern GA from storms Saturday Afternoon, this writeup
focuses on the surveyed areas associated with one particular portion of the line of storms..Northeast Cherokee/Pickens/Dawson/Hall and Banks Counties...
Rating: TSTM/Wind
Estimated Peak Wind: 95 mph
Path Length /statute/: 50.94 miles
Path Width /maximum/: 2640 yards
Fatalities: 1
Injuries: 0
Start Date: 06/07/2025
Start Time: 05:34 PM EDT
Start Location: 5 WSW Tate / Pickens County / GA
Start Lat/Lon: 34.3961 / -84.463
End Date: 06/07/2025
End Time: 06:22 PM EDT
End Location: 4 E Lula / Banks County / GA
End Lat/Lon: 34.3851 / -83.5848
Survey Summary:
A significant straight line wind event unfolded during the
afternoon hours of Saturday June 7, 2025. A strong line of
thunderstorms moved into Northwestern GA out of Alabama with a
history of wind damage which continued across the northern
portion of GA. As the line moved eastward into Pickens and
Cherokee counties, the Hytop radar confirmed the presence of a
developing strong rear inflow jet shortly followed by consistent
damage on the ground as the line crossed Hwy 515 just west of
Nelson GA in Pickens County at approximately 5:34 PM EDT. The
rear inflow surged a segment of the line forward as a bowing line
segment, i.e. bow echo, which are very common within storm
complexes like this one. Trees were downed, some on homes in the
Nelson GA area eastward in southern Pickens county and extreme
Northeastern Cherokee County. Roads surveyed included Cherokee
Trail, Cherokee Forest Park Dr, Fortner Road, Yellow Creek Road,
Lawson Federal Road, Eagles Nest Trail, Eagle Ridge, Beaver Run,
and Bear Ct in southern Pickens County. It should be noted that
the area of damage extended from north to south upwards of 1 to
1.5 miles in places which included swaths of greater wind damage
where likely new microbursts occurred. One such swath was noted
along Cherokee Ridgewood Pl and Cherokee Forest Park Dr. where
numerous trees were snapped and uprooted within a small area.
Another swath was noted in the Bear Trail/Eagles Nest Trl through
Beaver Run/Bear Ct region with numerous trees snapped and
uprooted within a small area. Outside of the more significant
damage swaths, more scattered tree damage was noted across the
1 to 1.5 mile wide region from hwy 515 eastward along a 50 mile
long path. Emergency management from both Cherokee and Dawson
counties owned Davis weather stations which happened to be
located within the path of this storm. The Cherokee County
station was located on top of Fire station 15 which recorded a
wind gust of 89.1 mph before the pole broke. The Dawson County
station was located at the Crystal Falls Lake Golf Course and
recorded a wind gust of 89.5 mph. Damage in the vicinity of
these wind measurements were consistent with wind speeds of this
magnitude which would equate to a low end EF1 tornado. As the
line surged into Dawson County, trees and powerlines were downed
from the western edge of the county ESE to the Lake Lanier
portion of the county. Numerous trees were downed along Roscoe
Collette Road, Cowart and Kelly Bridge Roads, and scattered
along Hwy 318 from west of Hwy 19 to the region near Lake Lanier
all along War Hill Park Road. A more detailed survey of the War
Hill Park road area confirms the storm exhibited similar pattern
to what occurred in Pickens county with swaths of heavier tree
damage within a broader area of wind damage in an area as much as
1.5 miles wide. One particular strong swath of damage was noted
along Indian Cove Drive ENE across Longview Drive where numerous
trees were snapped or uprooted including 2 onto homes. Maximum
winds within these swaths are estimated to be as high as 95 mph
given the extent of the tree damage in the localized area.
Another swath was noted to have occurred from War Hill Park Road
northeast into the Athens Boat Club subdivision where numerous
trees were snapped and uprooted along a ENE trajectory. An
additional area of significant tree damage was noted along Sams
Road, Pirkle Leake Road and Holly Hill Road. The ground
survey did not extend beyond Dawson county, however, the strong
storm continued east into Hall County downing trees along its
path. Hall County EMA confirms damage along a line eastward from
Southeastern Dawson County and additional reports/photos from
Looper Lake road and Club drive confirm strong straight line
winds in excess of 80 mph continued to occur across Hall county
along a line which included Westview, Scoutland, Chattahoochee
Landing, Sagamore, Shamrock Heights communities eastward toward
Banks County. Radar estimates confirm that the location of the
fatality as a result of a tree falling onto a vehicle near
Antioch Road and County Road 51 occurred as this area of straight
line winds continued surging eastward across the northern portion
of Banks County. While assessments are still ongoing, Pickens
County reported 38 homes damaged including 4 with major damage,
6 vehicles destroyed, and 2 RV's destroyed. Dawson County
reported 10 trees on homes resulting in moderate to major damage
and hundreds of trees down county wide. Banks County reported
55 calls of trees in the roadway, 26 calls of trees on
powerlines, 1 tree on a home, as well as the fatality from a
falling tree. It should be noted that portions of this same area
still showed scars, i.e. significant tree damage, of the very
strong straight line wind event which occurred in June of 2023.
