We received an alert or several that a sly wind from the east was coming in. Apparently the air from wherever was about to cross over from Colorado and Wyoming and ultimately hit our quiet little Salt Lake City.
I'm told high winds can result when a huge build-up of cold air hits our mountains and then pours down them into our very lovely valley.
By early Tuesday morning all of those nannies from Mary Poppins were getting launched directly over my house as we legit had category 3 hurricane winds, which is not a thing I thought I'd say about my 2020 at 4,500 feet elevation, deep in the desert mountains of Utah.
As it turns out, high winds are terrifying. Nearly the entire city immediately lost power. I say "nearly" because somehow our house seemed to be the only place in town that had electricity (it's been a few days since the storm and there are still large parts of the city without power). My friend Emily came over to work from my house after this happened at her house:
It's hard to tell from that picture, but that's a massive 100-year-old pine tree that destroyed a garden and fence.
Our "work" mostly just consisted of the two of us sitting at my living room window watching massive trees fall on 19th Century houses and making our dogs put on pajamas.
The winds blew all day and it was honestly one of the more unsettling things I've been through recently. And that's really saying something on a year like this.
That afternoon I tweeted
On a scale of earthquake to Pandemic, this wind is stressing me out two forest fires.
— Eli McCann (@EliMcCann) September 8, 2020
And, yes, I was making a joke, but also, the tweet was accurate. We had that Earthquake back in March and it nearly caused me panic attacks for the next two weeks but there was something more helpless about the wind storm. I guess because the earthquake didn't really cause much damage, but we were watching our city get half destroyed from within my house that was creaking and howling.
If you don't believe me about this, please see this video, of which there were many like this, of the park just down the street from me:
Video of large cottonwood tree falling in Liberty Park. @fox13 pic.twitter.com/C8ZPps3xlW
— HaileyHiggins (@HaileyHiggins) September 8, 2020
When I bought my house there were no trees at all on the property. Sky and I have since planted about ten, but none are very large yet, and until yesterday, I've always been annoyed about this. Our little trees seemed to survive, although they are all much more bare now. I realized how lucky we were as I drove through town that evening to pick up some groceries for dinner.
It reminded me of being in Palau for a large typhoon in 2012. I had to weave back and forth down streets to avoid debris. Some roads were completely blocked off by massive trees that had either fallen on them or ripped them out when they fell.
I got to the little grocery store half a mile away. The power was out but they had the doors open and they were letting people come in and shop. The inside of the store was extremely dark, and we wandered the place in face masks using our phones as flashlights. And, I don't know. Once I got halfway down the baking aisle, which was already bare because of the Pandemic, I just started laughing. None of this was really funny. I don't know why I was laughing, exactly. Maybe it was hysteria. I don't know. I just started laughing. And laughing. And I couldn't stop laughing.
Eventually I caught the eye of a woman holding two bags of flour. She looked like she had had it with that day. She saw me laughing and I immediately said "I'm sorry. It's just that--" and then she cut me off and said "it's easier to laugh than cry?" And then we both started laughing together, in the dark, using our phones as flashlights, and y'all. I know there's a pandemic, but this woman grabbed my arm and I grabbed hers and we both just stood in this aisle laughing together for a few seconds and honestly, I could tell right then that this was going to be one of the most memorable moments I'll take away from this apocalyptic year where people are still great.
~It Just Gets Stranger
“This apocalyptic year where people are still great.”
ReplyDeleteLove love love!!!
DeleteNot only is it easier, if you don't laugh you will cry. I'm guessing the chapter on this year in future history books will be called "You can't make this crap up"
ReplyDeleteSometimes strangers really do have the best candy.
ReplyDeleteLoved this write-up. Love that lady in the store. So true that it is important to laugh...if you possibly can! That wind was crazy!!! Lots without power still! They stopped counting at 60 downed enormous historic pine trees at SLC Cemetary. Crazy! But I'm happy you and Emily and your pooches all kept each other safe. XOXOXO Mom
ReplyDeleteBut what about Lagoon?
ReplyDeleteThat was our Monday up here in Washington, too. Some places looked like a tornado had blown through, with all the trees that were broken and uprooted. The wind also spread fire. We had over 300,000 acres burned in wildfires, including a few entire towns, for a one-day total that was more than our last 12 entire fire seasons. I was hoping that Australia covered the fire portion of this hell year back in January, but apparently there's still plenty to go around. At my house, we had power and no trees to fall, no damage to repair, and I felt strangely guilty to be untouched while so much around us was being destroyed.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Mid-West. (Are the pooches holding hands?)
ReplyDeleteWe had a derecho blow through a month ago. In central Iowa, the winds only blew at 70ish mph for 45 minutes but in eastern Iowa, they blew up to 140 mph for that long. It was crazy. 30% of the corn and the beans were flattened. (The beans will rebound but the corn, not so much...) We were without electricity for 24 hours but again, some were without for 8 - 10 days. All I can say is that at least in the city, when the power goes out, you still have water... Crazy times.
ReplyDeleteThis same thing happened in 2015 in Spokane WA, it was insanity, couldn’t drive down any street without seeing a massive tree down or on someone’s house, most people were without power for days and some longer. Since when do we have hurricanes inland? But I guess that’s a thing now?
ReplyDeleteWe're up in Box Elder county and are going on 80 hours without power now. We lost some of our favorite trees. I'm definitely to the it's easier to laugh than cry stage!
ReplyDeleteThis is insane damage to see in Utah!!! Crazy. We were without power (and internet and cell service) for 5 days last month when Tropical Storm Isaias hit the east coast....where we have a bazillion gigantic trees everywhere. Luckily our home was fine, and none of our cars were smashed by trees, but my neighbor and I had frenzied camping cookouts for 2 days trying to use up all of the food in our fridges and freezers. On day 3 we drove 45 minutes to a city that didn't lose power, just so we could re-stock on granola bars and get some fast food. There were gigantic trees blocking major roads for like a week because the power company had a super slow response time. Day 4, we did some laundry at a friends' house and charged our phones and basked in their internet and AC. It was kind of fun to camp out of our house for the first day, and then I was over it and exhausted, and grouchy that I had just stocked up on meat at Costco before the storm. What is with the weather trying to kill everyone in all parts of the country this year???
ReplyDelete(I can't get this comment to post from my Google account. Dangit, Blogger!)
ReplyDeleteThis is insane damage to see in Utah!!! Crazy. We were without power (and internet and cell service) for 5 days last month when Tropical Storm Isaias hit the east coast....where we have a bazillion gigantic trees everywhere. Luckily our home was fine, and none of our cars were smashed by trees, but my neighbor and I had frenzied camping cookouts for 2 days trying to use up all of the food in our fridges and freezers. On day 3 we drove 45 minutes to a city that didn't lose power, just so we could re-stock on granola bars and get some fast food. There were gigantic trees blocking major roads for like a week because the power company had a super slow response time. Day 4, we did some laundry at a friends' house and charged our phones and basked in their internet and AC. It was kind of fun to camp out of our house for the first day, and then I was over it and exhausted, and grouchy that I had just stocked up on meat at Costco before the storm. What is with the weather trying to kill everyone in all parts of the country this year???