Thunderstorm Wind — Turner, Georgia

2017-01-02 · near Dakota, Turner, Georgia

Event narrative

An NWS survey team determined that straight line winds of 80 mph moved across Turner county. The severe winds downed hundreds of trees, knocked over a church steeple, and removed shingles and metal roofing from mobile homes and well-constructed outbuildings. In addition, a few mobile homes were damaged by falling trees and one outbuilding was destroyed when the wind shifted it off the blocks on which it was located. This resulted in one fatality. The damage was confined to roughly a 6.5 mile by 4 mile box. Damage cost was estimated.

Wider weather episode

Multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms affected the region to start the year. Two day rainfall totals in excess of 8 inches were common across portions of the Florida panhandle with several roads flooded. Severe weather, including tornadoes and significant straight line wind damage, also occurred across the tri-state area with most of it in southeast Alabama and southwest Georgia. Albany was particularly hard hit with significant wind damage. There were a total of 5 fatalities across the tri-state area from straight line winds. There was also 1 fatality in Florida due to river flooding.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.7340, -83.7417)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 670353. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.