The Great Windstorm of 2014

A few days ago, wednesday July 23rd will no doubt be known as The Great Windstorm in Spokane, much like the infamous Ice Storm back in 1996 that hit this city and brought it to its knees, well, almost.

On this occasion I was home, doing some chores when I noticed a wind coming up and the skys darkening, I went out to the back deck to pull the furniture cushions so they wouldn't get wet should it rain, and to lower the patio umbrella. Within minutes, literally minutes, the wind started gusting at high speeds (not sure how high, maybe 60 or 70 mph, perhaps more). I took shelter inside and watched in amazement as the skies opened up and a sheet of water poured down on everything. The noise of the wind and the heavy rain was something to behold and totally unexpected. I watched as our lights flickered a few times and then went out completely. We were 'powerless'.

We didn't regain power until early the next morning, but for most residents, some 30,000 of them, in the north side, they didn't get their power back on for another day or two.

When Rod came home from work the day of the storm we drove around our neighborhood and witnessed destruction such as I had not seen before in our area. Huge pine trees felled, either having simply snapped in the wind or competely uprooted. Many were laying over (yes OVER) houses or next to them, in the streets, school yards, and power lines lay dangling across the streets with crews racing to cordone off the area to drivers or walkers.

I think our ever-changing weather patterns ARE more severe and unpredictable and gro

w more so every year, and seemingly very quickly things are changing. I know there are many climate change (global warming, call it what you will) deniers, but I am not one of them. Was this weeks storm a freak of nature of a sign of things to come on a regular basis? Prominant scientists and meteorologists concur on the latter. Time will tell.

"The wind shows us how close to the edge we are". ~Joan Didion