One of the things I do every morning is check the weather forecast on my phone. Two days ago I saw a phrase I'm not used to seeing - "howling wind." I'm not sure when that became a technical weather term. It wasn't too bad then, but today made up for it. "Howling" was an appropriate description.
When I tried to go to my office after lunch time I found the streets all blocked. In fact, Main Street was closed to all traffic except official vehicles, which was very odd.
Barricades were up at every intersection on Main and on each block either side. Well... at least the barricades the wind hadn't blown over.
The problem was the Wiley Building was losing some of its sheet metal covering and it was being propelled through the streets by 40-55 mph winds. You can see the spot on the side of the building at the top.
A local roofing company came and attached a ladder up there to try and keep more of it from peeling off.
I could relate to the difficulty because when I went outside at one point today I found one of the shutters from the upper floor of my house in the front yard.
Driving down A Street today, toward downtown, it was like fog from all the dust and dirt in the air. It was accentuated by flying debris - "debris" defined as lawn furniture, paper, sacks, five gallon buckets, kids pools and toys - hurtling through the air in front of you at windshield level as if being flung by a giant off to the side of the road. It made for some adventure driving.
I do live in Kansas - it's known for being windy - but this is extreme even for us. I don't feel the need for anymore. Thank you, anyway.
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