I always thought wind sheers and microbursts were exclusively the realm of airports. But today I saw first hand that they can happen anywhere.
To say that this summer has been hot is a serious understatement. We currently sit at more than 70 days of temperatures over 100º. We still have more to come, and with the heat comes winds. We have some interesting winds here at Oakmass. There is a field just to the North of the property and large hill to the South. The property itself makes a pretty good rise from bottom to top, it is probably 60ft in elevation although it feels like 600 when you walk up it.
Because of the shape of the property and its location the wind tends to come out of the north and swirl upwards. The heat vortices attract the buzzards and it is not unusual to see 20 or more circling up from the tree tops to over 500ft on a warm afternoon.
Today was something completely different. I was sitting on the patio under the big fan, minding my own business and wondering if it will ever cool off, when the wind started to pick up. A huge gust of wind came across the back of the house and must have hit the “butter sticks” and been re-directed upwards. The gust caught the under side of the patio umbrella and shot it into the air even pushing aside a 1/2″ steel cable with lights hanging off it. It continued up about 60′ in the air and then shot northwards about 100′ and finally came to land about 20′ of the ground in the branches of a tree. The whole episode took about 10 to 15 seconds and then the wind died down and everything went back to normal with the heat being oppressive except for under the fan.
I got the Umbrella from amazon to shade the pool. It is a 7′ diameter bright red umbrella with a small solar panel on top and with LEDs in the frame. It is not a heavy umbrella but I wouldn’t call it light either. I expect it probably weighs 8-10 lbs. In the above picture you can see it on the top left.
At first when you look, you see the umbrella stand is conspicuously empty and there is a lack or Red objects. But if you look closer at the center of the image you will see a red sliver in the tree at the end of the year.
Zoomed in it is easier to see. but the images below make it very obvious.
My FIL was ready to do battle with the tree to retrieve the umbrella, but at over 100º I told him to wait a day to see if it blows down.
Being that it is in a bent China Berry tree I will probably just cut it down with a chainsaw and retrieve the misplaced Shade device.
