Yikes! We're Being Blown!

[3113]

The West that is:

...high winds toppled countless trees, knocked out power to hundreds of thousands and brought gusts of 123 mph....A state of emergency was declared in Los Angeles County, where schools in a dozen communities were closed. In some neighborhoods, concrete light poles cracked in half. Darkened traffic signals and fallen palm tree fronds and branches snarled traffic.

The National Weather Service called Southern California's winds Wednesday night a once-in-a-decade event, and it's not over. Winds were expected to pick up again Thursday night, though they won't be as fierce.

...High wind warnings and advisories were also issued for Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona and New Mexico. The blustery weather is expected to eventually hit Oklahoma, Missouri and Indiana. The storms were the result of a dramatic difference in pressure between a strong, high-pressure system and a cold, low-pressure system, meteorologists said. This funnels strong winds down mountain canyons and slopes.

The winds reached 123 mph at a ski resort northwest of Denver and topped 102 mph in Utah. California, however, was the hardest hit, with more than 330,000 utility customers still without power late Thursday. The gusts were blamed for toppling semitrailers and causing trees to fall on homes, apartment complexes and cars.

 

[TE999]

Yow! Here's hoping you and yours are okay.

125 mph winds are a Cat 3 'cane in this neck of the woods.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Well, out here by the coast it was a little breezy but nothing to post storm warnings about. It's canyons you gotta watch out for.

 

[TE999]

Well, out here by the coast it was a little breezy but nothing to post storm warnings about. It's canyons you gotta watch out for.

Having walked down many a concrete canyon when the wind's a-blowin' I can relate.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Hoo, yez! Dose concrete kenyons can be a mothuh on a vindy day.

 

[TE999]

Hoo, yez! Dose concrete kenyons can be a mothuh on a vindy day.

Especially when it's colder than a well diggers ass in January.

 

[JackLuis]

All my leaves blew away, and I got a whole new set from the neighboring trees.
LA took a beating, Pasadena hit hard, they said on the news.

I was going to look on the weather sat, but I haven't yet.

It probably looks cool in IR?

Edited to add: Damn, missed it, only a 12 hour loop.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Well, out here by the coast it was a little breezy but nothing to post storm warnings about. It's canyons you gotta watch out for.

I've been hit by a flying canyon before. Didn't know what year it was for two weeks! 9or so they told me )

 

[PayDay]

Seriously?

The title of this thread is deceiving.
I was really hoping it would go another way. Sad times.

 

[Stella_Omega]

The windstorm came through my area. it was quite an experience, being fairly warm, dry as dust and intermittent-- the air would be still, and we could hear the oncoming wind like a freight train getting closer untill it slammed into the tress and hillsides-- and houses. By 10:00 PM, we were experiencing intermittent power, which was really a spectacular sight when we looked across our little valley to the hillsides opposite us-- blocks of city lighting would wink in and out of existence. By midnight, we were without power, and the sky had more stars in it than Ive seen in quite a while-- would have been more showy if there had been less dust in the air!

And then the transformers started blowing up. Some of them lit up the whole sky.

My power came back on about two hours ago. We conserved our cellphone batteries all day, read and talked by candlight last night-- and went to bed early. The phone lines just came back, and I now can check my email and such.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

All in all a genuine adventure. Nothing happened here, but then nothing ever happens here. The city approves . . .