Thunderstorm Wind — Whitfield, Georgia

2011-06-18 · near Rocky Face, Whitfield, Georgia

Event narrative

Amateur radio operators and the public reported that hundreds of trees were down across the county from west of Rocky Face to Dalton. Wind gusts were estimated at 65 to 70 mph. At least 40 homes across the county sustained minor to moderate damage from fallen trees. Four homes in Dalton and two homes in Rocky Face suffered extensive damage from trees which fell on the structures. Multiple trees and several power lines were down on Cleveland Highway north of Dalton. A number of power lines were down throughout the city of Dalton.

Wider weather episode

A series of strong short waves were moving across the U.S. These short waves were ejecting from a large upper trough in the western U.S. These vigorous short waves encountered a hot, moist, unstable air mass across the U.S. However, dry mid-level atmosphere air and west to west-northwest flow aloft promoted the development of organized lines of thunderstorms, which produced extensive strong outflow boundaries supporting wind gusts of 50 to 60 mph, even greater in some cases. During the afternoon of the 18th, such thunderstorm gust fronts affected northwest Georgia in particular with widespread damaging wind gusts, likely in excess of 70 mph, blowing down hundreds of trees, dozens of power lines, and causing damage to some structures. This area of thunderstorms progressed southeast toward Atlanta, before dissipating during the mid-evening. Considerable wind damage was noted in the northern and northwestern suburbs of Atlanta from this activity.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.7668, -85.1277)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 325599. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.