Blow Me Down

We in Western Washington were hit with quite a windstorm yesterday. In the wintertime it is not unusual for us to have windstorms, but I understand this one was the worst since 1999. Parts of the state got gusts up to 78 mph, although most areas saw no more than about 50 mph gusts. Yesterday was a work day for me as I generally work Saturdays. The storm blew in in the wee hours of the morning and stayed with us for most of the day. My drive to the office was interesting. Fortunately most everyone was driving the freeway a little slower than normal because of the winds. I could definitely feel the pull as the wind buffeted my car side to side. The worst was driving over the Ship Canal bridge where there is a crosswind. I made it in okay though.

I had a little extra "edge" of anxiety added to my work day. My office is on the 28th floor of a high-rise building. The winds were strong coming in off Elliott Bay and from my office the winds sounded like a freight train. Not so loud as in a hurricane, but loud enough to keep me a little anxious all day. Accompanying the sound of the wind was the constant creak of the building and the rattle of my pictures against the wall. Of course all this was amplified by the absence of the normal noise of other people working during the day - on Saturdays I work pretty much alone.

At lunchtime I didn't want to go out in the weather, but I didn't bring a lunch and needed to go get a sandwich. Walking along Third Avenue was pretty windy, but not too bad until I hit the cross streets. The cross streets are the west-east streets that form a nice tunnel for the winds coming off Elliott Bay and up the hill. It was hard to stand up on the street corners, so people hurried across as soon as they could. In front of my building I came across this object lying on the ground. Can you tell what it is? At first I thought it was a TV antenna or something.


No, that's what happens when you bring an umbrella out in a windstorm. There's not a stitch of fabric left!

We were lucky that the power did not go out in my office or at my home. But 200,000 homes were not so lucky. Then of course the most worrisome question on people's minds was "will the power be back on in time for us to watch the Seahawks in the Superbowl??" The winds quieted way down by evening and power was restored to most people by Sunday morning so only a few had to find another place to watch the game.

At the peak of the storm they had to close the Hood Canal Bridge (on the peninsula to the west of Seattle) and the 520 bridge in Seattle (first time in 9 years they had to do that). Some ferry service was halted although not enough. One ferry crossing was a little too much of an adventure for some - a front window blew out in the main cabin!

The most damage came from trees down everywhere. Trees that went through homes (no one was hurt, thankfully) and trees over roadways snarling traffic.

Most of the area made it through okay, though. The nice thing about this storm is that it blew the rain clouds away from us for a few days. We are looking forward to several days of nice sunny weather before the rain clouds return.