We are being bathed in Sunshine for the next few days. A high pressure area that formed off the coast of San Francisco is somehow causing this. It makes the old bones ache for some of us. But all the same, the sunshine feels good as it warms them up. A slight contradiction, but that's ok, it's harmless. Another contradiction is the good/bad wind coming in. nNormally starting in or around April 1st, it will blow until around Thanksgiving. The prevailing wind is West to East. The storm wind from the South is another blog. Read an interesting very short wind preparation article from the National Weather Service here.
I like kites. I like the fact the wind keeps the skeeter's away. I like to watch the sailboats and people on paddle boards using it for propulsion. Nothing can compare to a nice balmy breezy day next to the water. We live in an area that the wind is up about 6 months of the year. We also have a golf course on the island, another contradiction.
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| Well the grass won't have to be watered today. |
The wind can also doom outdoor activities, surfing, boating, painting, golfing most things are made more difficult in an intense wind. Our dock was blown apart by a wind that reportedly reached 80 mph. One foot thick pylons (25 years old) were sheared at the mud line underwater. Umbrellas, lawn furniture, canopies and covers, you must secure them or forget about them. I worked with a guy who at one time worked on a wind turbine farm, in the olden days. These first generation wind turbines had no way to brake their speed. When the wind got out of control, so followed the turbine. They stopped a runaway turbine (I am repeating a story he told me) with an arrow shot from a bow. The arrow had a light line tied to it. The line tied to a rope and the rope tied to a cable (wire rope). The cable was then attached to the bumper of a 3/4 ton pickup truck. The arrow was shot into the blades above about 75 feet. The string wrapped on a blade. The first to go
was the truck's bumper. Everybody ran away. The line, rope and cable immediately came unspooled. The caught blade was torn apart, rendering the machine way way out of balance. The remainder of the blades flew apart. There were pieces of the turbine, blades and generator everywhere. No one got hurt. They never tried to stop another runaway like that.
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| They do come apart, this is not the one of which I wrote. |
Most people will never have to stop a run away turbine. Now there are several ways to stop them, but we are affected by high winds in negative ways. I saw a video this morning of a little girl. She was entering her house and opened the door. The child could only hold on to the knob for dear life as it whipped her into the side of the house after the door was caught by the wind. I do believe that is a common occurance, I've been hit by a wind blown door. We just have to be aware of the wind. Sometimes we're going to get tricked by it.
One thing we can do about the wind is buy a kite and go fly it away from trees.
What do you think? Tell us your wind story.
Thanks for reading jimandkate
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