24 January 2010 Stop whistling That’s enough wind!

24 January 2010 Stop whistling That’s enough wind!


At 2200 or there about last night, we heard the growing roar that signifies high wind rolling over the pass from N. Carolina. It hit and passed by registering a 28 MPH velocity. Then it grew quiet. The National Weather Service had issued a high wind warning effective until 1600 today. Previously we’ve paid attention to them but have not seen the higher ranges of winds they predict in these warnings. We’ve been lucky and the brunt of the blow has been directed into other locations.

When we turned in about 0100 there were some gusts rolling through but nothing like the first gust of the storm. About 0500 we were awakened by the wind and the sound of metal blowing in the wind. The contractor who built our decks and added a sheet metal roof for us did not put the roof on in the preferred manner. Nor did he overlap sections as well as he should have so that there was an immediate leak in the front where the new construction attaches to the house. When pressed to repair this, he reluctantly jammed a strip of metal between the two roof sections as flashing but didn’t bother to fasten the strip down. This piece of metal, of course, became a play thing for the winds. We had a neighbor fasten it down and it has held for about a year. The noise this morning was a reminder that one should never allow sympathy or compassion to interfere in choosing who one hires to work on a house.

At 0510 I was out the door, using a head lamp for vision, trying to see how much metal was blowing in the winds. The dog was an unwilling partner on the trek to the road to retrieve the paper. I put her inside and then started to re-anchor the tarps over the firewood. That required about 20 minutes that I would have preferred to spend sleeping. Once back inside I brought up my laptop and checked for new warnings, looked at the radar, and reviewed the wind velocity since midnight. We’ve not clocked any gust higher than 23 MPH but the noise from the wind has been constant and the higher flow is whistling in the wires and large trees are bending so the wind just above our layer of moderately protected air flow is blowing at anywhere from Beaufort force 5 – force 10.

Beaufort Wind Scale

Developed in 1805 by Sir Francis Beaufort of England

________________________________________

Force Wind

(Knots) WMO

Classification Appearance of Wind Effects

On the Water On Land

0 Less than 1 Calm Sea surface smooth and mirror-like Calm, smoke rises vertically

1 1-3 Light Air Scaly ripples, no foam crests Smoke drift indicates wind direction, still wind vanes

2 4-6 Light Breeze Small wavelets, crests glassy, no breaking Wind felt on face, leaves rustle, vanes begin to move

3 7-10 Gentle Breeze Large wavelets, crests begin to break, scattered whitecaps Leaves and small twigs constantly moving, light flags extended

4 11-16 Moderate Breeze Small waves 1-4 ft. becoming longer, numerous whitecaps Dust, leaves, and loose paper lifted, small tree branches move

5 17-21 Fresh Breeze Moderate waves 4-8 ft taking longer form, many whitecaps, some spray Small trees in leaf begin to sway

6 22-27 Strong Breeze Larger waves 8-13 ft, whitecaps common, more spray Larger tree branches moving, whistling in wires

7 28-33 Near Gale Sea heaps up, waves 13-20 ft, white foam streaks off breakers Whole trees moving, resistance felt walking against wind

8 34-40 Gale Moderately high (13-20 ft) waves of greater length, edges of crests begin to break into spindrift, foam blown in streaks Whole trees in motion, resistance felt walking against wind

9 41-47 Strong Gale High waves (20 ft), sea begins to roll, dense streaks of foam, spray may reduce visibility Slight structural damage occurs, slate blows off roofs

10 48-55 Storm Very high waves (20-30 ft) with overhanging crests, sea white with densely blown foam, heavy rolling, lowered visibility Seldom experienced on land, trees broken or uprooted, "considerable structural damage"

11 56-63 Violent Storm Exceptionally high (30-45 ft) waves, foam patches cover sea, visibility more reduced

12 64+ Hurricane Air filled with foam, waves over 45 ft, sea completely white with driving spray, visibility greatly reduced



I use “Force 10” with some assurance as we have spotted a broken and down tree on our land up valley from the house.

At 0940 Gloria’s friend Chris drove off toward Florida, heading over the passes to Asheville N.C. to eventually pick up I-95. She could have an interesting tale to tell concerning her trip. She’d asked for breakfast at 0800 and I was concerned about the possibility of power outages in this sort of wind condition. Gloria and I showered early and had breakfast ready for Chris so that she could leave when she felt it was time to head out.

Twenty minutes after Chris left we took a power hit. After closing down the computers I figured the next thing to do was rebuild the fire in the stove. It’s easier to lay the fire when you can see it. The wind made it difficult to get a new fire going, lots of blow back at first. At 60°F we don’t need the fire but when the temperature starts dropping after the front passes, the heat will be welcome.

Once the fire was burning well, there was little to do beyond read the paper and listen to the wind. We got power back at 1107. That was great response from the Johnson City Power Board. This morning was not a day to be out working on power lines. But then, power lines go down much less frequently in good weather.

Dinner is planned and I’ve got a lot of reading to finish before class tomorrow.

The wind is beginning to slack off a bit, I think. I noted a period of relative quiet just now, no keening, no roaring, no hair standing up on the back of my neck. The dog is staying close to us both, still. I don’t know what she hears in the wind. I don’t know what I miss hearing in the wind anymore. Come to think of it, though, I did whistle for Loki when I took her out at 2200 last night. I don’t believe the superstition but I’ve always liked the tradition.