[TowerTalk] Storm Season is upon us..

[jimlux]

Roger (K8RI) wrote:
> 
> Dave Tipton wrote:
>> Check out what happened in Denton County, Texas this week.  I don't know
>> whether to recommend this manufacturer for how it fell, or not to recommend
>> them because it fell at 60mph, when it was rated for 125..
>>   
> Unless they were measuring the wind right at the tower they have no idea 
> as to what the winds were. All they can go by were what was reported 
> some distance away.  With straight line winds associated with down 
> bursts I've seen them well over 100 MPH for a path width of a few 
> hundred feet while they weren't strong enough to blow over a trashcan 
> another 100 feet farther over.  We had one that tore down trees going 
> across the airport.  It went right down the taxiway between two rows of 
> hangars.  Beyond the end of the taxiway there was an old plane tied 
> down.  The wind was so strong it broke one of the tiedowns, flipped the 
> plane upside down which pretty much demolished it including the 
> propeller. OTOH there was very little wind at my hangar about 100 feet away.
> 

And there are small tornados, as well. Not all tornados are the big 'uns 
with a visible funnel and dust and debris like you see on Discovery 
channel. Even a little F1 could do a lot of damage, because of the rapid 
change of windload direction.

Ask the folks at Disneyland about the "freak vorticular disturbance" 
they had about 15 years ago.  Or the Orange County business park with 
the trees knocked over by a "unusual wind gust" (that happened to leave 
circular scour marks across the parking lot).