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Thursday, July 19, 2012

A Possible Microburst

In the aftermath of a brief storm in Arlington, MA, residents and newscasters are so perplexed by the destruction from downed trees that they speculate there must have been a "microburst".  This is by no means the first time that the severity of a storm is exaggerated because people cannot understand why else so many branches break and trees fall, leaving power disrupted.

The man at the very end of the clip whose garage and car were crushed observes that his house is fine.  In other words, there was enormous tree damage but not physical damage to buildings (other than that caused by trees).  If the wind was so powerful, why are the buildings intact?  For that answer, you would have to understand that pollution is killing trees...there is an introduction to that, here.
(There's an ad first, of course.)
WHDH-TV - 

Update:  The video below of a lethal accident in Virginia from Bill Hicks is incredible and tragic - no rain, no wind.  Click on this link for the source.

View more videos at: http://nbcwashington.com.

10 comments:

  1. at the end of this article:

    After all, he said, they're "just trees."
    http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/342905/microburst-topples-trees

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  2. me again:
    another statement

    “It’s amazing how huge these trees are,” she said. “It was just awful. We had a 60 foot blue spruce that came down next to the house.

    “It was so powerful. I never experienced anything so strong. It was quite intense and so quick, about 10 minutes it was over, quite amazing,” Meridien said.
    http://www.unionleader.com/article/20120718/NEWS11/707199957

    10 minutes: hundreds (or more) of trees

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, Michele, for sure we are getting stronger storms. But that isn't enough to account for the trees - they are just waiting to break and fall over.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What is amazing to me is how shallow the root system is on some these uprooted trees. The tree at 01:19 for example was a large, well-established tree. Seems like its root system should have been deeper.

    ReplyDelete
  5. One of my favorite quotes:

    "The most curious result obtained appears to me to be that relating to the effect of a highly ozonized atmosphere upon the roots of plants." – M. Carey Lea, 1864.

    A scientific fact that has been proven countless time since.

    ReplyDelete
  6. They had a microburst all right.

    Bio-engineered by Mr. HAARP.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Chicago had a lot of windstorms last year. They are surprisingly absent this year. Trees are falling over at a frightening pace even without wind. All missing any sign of roots.

    Also conspicuous by absence is tree roots invading drain lines. No one talks about their root-clogged drain anymore. Saw the tool sitting at the hardware/rental yesterday. The rental guy said I saw it there on the floor because it was just returned and that was the first time it had gone out in weeks. Was once a much in demand tool.

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  8. Sadly, here is a story of a driver in the DC area killed by a falling tree...on a sunny day with no wind. The tree just fell over. Here is the punchline:

    "Arborists determined the tree fell because it was completely decayed at the roots, News4's Erika Gonzalez reported. Another tree in the area also was found to be decayed at the roots and will be removed."

    http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Woman-Killed-by-Falling-Tree-in-Great-Falls-162801906.html

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  9. Trees falling and hurting stuff is going to make people play doctor on them——by removing them.

    Seriously. When people eat and live unhealthy and their gall bladder starts acting up, they don't start eating steamed beet leaves or changing their lifestyle. They do the convenient thing: remove the offender!

    Later they suffer the wide-ranging consequences of not being able to digest fats properly.

    Trees and gall bladders are more important than we thought.

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  10. Yes, you're right Brian! Most of the comments on this story, and others about trees falling, complain that the parks dept. or city isn't taking proper care of the trees and should be liable.

    ReplyDelete