Straght-line winds approaching 100 miles -an-hour at times caused the damage Saturday night in Hall County and several other counties in north Georgia, according to a National Weather Service (NWS) report.
Fox 5 posted the report on Facebook Tuesday night.
Here is the report:
“A significant straight line wind event unfolded during the afternoon hours of Saturday June 7, 2025.
…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.”