Fluther: Does it seem like wind damage is more and more of ...

Does it seem like wind damage is more and more of a concern in the area in which you live?

Asked by ibstubro (18804

) April 3rd, 2016
18 responses
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I don’t recall wind damage being a major concern until the past 2–4 years, but now it seems like high winds are a frequent occurrence.

Wind shear has done tremendous damage in the area in the last couple years.

Yesterday the farm fields across from my house looked like the Dust Bowl. On my way to town, I stopped and dragged a huge stop sign off the road because it was blocking traffic.

Is this Global Warming in action? Or am I just more aware of weather phenomena as I age?

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Topics: insurance, weather, global warming, winds, spring

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Answers

I live in a hurricane zone. Everything is built with wind damage in mind, and just about everyone knows how the law feels about damage done on your property by your neighbor’s tree.

I can’t speak for the history of wind shear in the dust bowl.

Seek (34805

)“Great Answer” (1

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Storms are getting stronger here every year too. And their path are more and more unpredictable. Now no one is sure which city a storm will strike next. Guess it’s global warming and not just you being old.

Mimishu1995 (23627

)“Great Answer” (2

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I live in a tornado zone and ‘tis the season for the kind of weather conditions that spawn them.

Pachy (18610

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If I knew the area of Viet Nam in which you live, @Mimishu1995, I have forgotten.
Coastal?

ibstubro (18804

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Storms are getting worse according to an MTI study, and in about 100 years, many parts of the planet will be uninhabitable. Let me see if I can find link.

jca (36062

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Multiple Injured as Widespread Winds Down Trees, Power Lines; Thousands Without Power is this weekend.

ibstubro (18804

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@ibstubro, yes, really. The last 5–10 years have been dramatically different in general weather patterns, and wind is just on factor. The way I have dealt with weather has included more and more extreme measures.

canidmajor (21233

)“Great Answer” (1

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@ibstubro yeah, coastal. In the past my city was storms’ favorite spot. Whenever there was a storm, it was most certainly coming to my place. But now storms have a harder time choosing a holiday destination. Places that know no storm before have to get ready for one.

Mimishu1995 (23627

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We had one massive hailstorm here that caused a lot of damage but other than that it’s been oddly calm, for years. It’s hard to say if storms are really getting more severe or not. I do know that the news sure hypes them up here much more than they used to. Probably the same in other places too. We are all more aware now because of our increased access to information and that probably plays a role.

ARE_you_kidding_me (20021

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I posit that much of the damage is from development in areas that were sparsely populated until the last twenty five years.

We had a pretty bad windstorm in the SF Bay Area in the early 90’s that had downed trees, branches, power lines, and fences all over. There have been a few since then that have not been as strong, but caused more damage because of more dense development.

And wind in cities can be accelerated by high rises causing a canyon effect.

zenvelo (39418

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If you pick up any sailing magazine, you’ll find buried in it at least one article containing a gleeful exclamation that sailing seasons around the world have been getting longer and more intense in the last few years—sandwiched between an interview of a former Lehman Bros. vice president on his spectacular 182 foot yacht in the Aegean and a story about a former Enron exec leisurely circumnavigating under sail with her family. Let me tell you, it can get pretty windy out here,

According to this NASA Earth Observatory article, storms are getting stronger, hurricanes are intensifying more quickly, global wind speeds are 5% higher than 20 years ago, and “extreme” precipitation events are happening more often.

National Geographic Magazine: Earth Getting Mysteriously Windier

Even the British tabloids have picked up on it. The Daily Mail: Blow me! It’s the windiest year for two decades! (I think ucme wrote that one.)

Daily Telegraph: Will 2015 be Britain’s windiest year in two decades?

NOAA comments here on local Florida Key’s comments on the relentless wind. I hope they’re not complaining. The place is a fucking oven in the summer without that breeze.

I can’t tell from where I am. I’m on the side of a hill 1,000 feet above the beach facing the Atlantic on a Windward Island. It’s always windy here, thank the gods, or the heat and humidity would be a killer. And don’t look at me like that. I earned my money. I was a nurse.

Espiritus_Corvus (17294

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