Don't get blown away, but...

We got a windstorm of rare magnitude when I was twelve or thirteen years old. I was a lanky kid and it was only a few days after I got my first trench coat. So I went out to the fields with some other local youths. It wasn't enough to fly but I sure could lean into it. We had fun fighting the wind, throwing sticks into it, etc.
 
In 1968 when I was 4 years old we were living in a small house by the lake we had a tornado go by our house and after it passed they let me out of the basement to see it, the tornado proceeded to a nearby town as a F5 tornado and killed 9 people and actually picked up a railroad boxcar that weighed about 50,000 #’s and flung it a 100 feet or so. Mother Nature in a bad mood indeed.
 
Wind event here yesterday, a friend called and said he had a tree on his service drop (meter is at the road so the utility company won't do anything). Made some calls, and headed down... In the process of taking the top out of the tree, I got smacked in the face by a branch, said branch sent my 300 dollar hardhat careening to the ground, resulting in a broken earmuff mount... So much for a profit on the job, and now I need a new hardhat.
 
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jbmonkey said:
I've lived through so many hurricanes I've lost count.
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Me too, but I still count myself lucky in that I've never been hit directly by a Cat 4+. Worst part has been living without power for 4 weeks on one occasion and 5 on another. NOT fun being without AC in Miami in August/September. First thing I did when we moved into a new house a few years ago was install a whole-house generator.
 
Blade Lab said:
Me too, but I still count myself lucky in that I've never been hit directly by a Cat 4+. Worst part has been living without power for 4 weeks on one occasion and 5 on another. NOT fun being without AC in Miami in August/September. First thing I did when we moved into a new house a few years ago was install a whole-house generator.
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I get that, never lived through a hurricane, but I'd much rather be without power in the winter than summer. Freezer contents can be packed in a snow bank, and I heat with wood.
 
BlindMouse2of3 said:
Sorry about your hardhat but at least you're still around to type about it. Seen a few trees that didn't play nice. I got a great deal of respect for the tree falling business.
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Thanks, it wasn't one of those life threatening close calls or anything. Just a run of the mill smack in the face. Luckily I was able to refit my old one with my radio. We added those to everyone's head gear last year and I won't be without them ever again.
 
Bobthebrewer said:
In 1968 when I was 4 years old we were living in a small house by the lake we had a tornado go by our house and after it passed they let me out of the basement to see it, the tornado proceeded to a nearby town as a F5 tornado and killed 9 people and actually picked up a railroad boxcar that weighed about 50,000 #’s and flung it a 100 feet or so. Mother Nature in a bad mood indeed.
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Living in Alaska that's one thing I'm thankful we don't have. Ive seen 2 tiny ones up here and not sure what they are called since they are clearly not tornadoes. But they'd come off a lake in the summer when conditions where right. Maybe 20-30 feet tall and go for about 30 seconds at most. I remember one coming to shore and going through the middle of everyone's things. Made a mess and left an impression that I don't want to be in a real one.

Although I guess you get use to the things in your environment. After awhile you get use to working in 60 mph winds gusting to 110. Or going out in ambient -50 because things need doing. I remember shattering several hammers changing tires outside.
 
Bobthebrewer said:
My cousins live up in Alaska, maybe not tornados but blizzards, bitter cold and earthquakes are very, vary real.
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Yeah none of that really bothers living up here. But I think some of that has to do with the 13 years working in Prudhoe Bay and being phase exempt. We did have a pretty decent earthquake a few years back that did some decent damage out this way.
 
Wild Willie said:
Wind event here yesterday, a friend called and said he had a tree on his service drop (meter is at the road so the utility company won't do anything). Made some calls, and headed down... In the process of taking the top out of the tree, I got smacked in the face by a branch, said branch sent my 300 dollar hardhat careening to the ground, resulting in a broken earmuff mount... So much for a profit on the job, and now I need a new hardhat.
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Glad you had it on and are ok! Hard hats/helmets truly are lifesavers.
 
beeinak said:
Glad you had it on and are ok! Hard hats/helmets truly are lifesavers.
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Thank you, I don't cut (except firewood) without one. Unfortunately in this case the face shield was it's downfall, I had it up so I could see a bit better and the offending branch snagged it and pulled it up and off.
 
I don’t know how many times I have had branches smack my helmet/shield/muffs and thought ‘well that would have really hurt’. Had a helmet literally save my life with a huge widowmaker falling striking me. I hate felling trees in the wind, and cleaning up ‘pick up sticks’ when a bunch of trees have been cut and are on top of each other- some like a spring-board.

We get some crazy wind, weather and earthquakes here, but I am grateful we don’t get tornados. Terrible devastation those folks are dealing with.
 
10 years ago or so, my brother and I were camping out on the edge of Georgian Bay. There is this obscure rock that is just above/below the water that stretches about 100 yards into the bay.

We were messing around out at the point just having a fantastic time when it started to sprinkle. It was weird because it was sunny and clear all day. Some dark clouds rolled in as we dawned our rain gear. I looked out into the bay and could see this wicked wall of water (about 30’ tall) way out coming towards us.

Well, we ran like bats outta “you know where,” and just made shore as the winds became too much to balance and laid down between the rocks. That sucker took only about 15 seconds of high winds and absolute downpour to go over us. We were completely drenched.
Afterwards we witnessed our first complete double rainbows. What an experience.

I actually have some photos somewhere. I will never forget that day.

Waterspouts are legit. 😂🤣
 
Lived through many hurricanes in Houston TX and Lake Charles LA, from 1962 through 1991, until I moved to Colorado. I thought I got away from wind storms, but here on Cheyenne Mountain we often get 100+ mph winds that blow all of our patio furniture and grill around and destroy them. On March 10th we had about $1000 worth of wind damage to my son's brand new truck.
 
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