Weather Words: Straight Line Winds

Straight line winds are much more significant than the winds you experience on a windy day. These winds accompany a thunderstorm and many times cause significant damage. In fact, the damage they cause can sometimes be mistaken for tornado damage.

Straight line winds follow a straight path, unlike winds in a tornado that are rotating. Many times, these winds are the result of what’s called a downdraft. This is a powerful gust of wind that blows downward out of a thunderstorm, then outward, creating straight line winds.

These winds can exceed 100 mph and cause power lines to fall, trees to uproot and even structural damage to homes and businesses. After the storm passes, crews will go out in the field to conduct a damage survey to determine if the damage was caused by straight line winds or if it was in fact a tornado.

If the NWS ever issues a storm warning and mentions the threat of damaging straight line winds, treat the warning the same as you would a tornado, and seek shelter immediately.

Jennifer Gray is a weather and climate writer for weather.com. She has been covering some of the world's biggest weather and climate stories for the last two decades.