Another storm - big trees down at my place

[mossyrockhound]

Hello All!

I don't get what's going on with the weather around here! A few weeks ago we had a tornado here that damaged over 400 structures -  Extremely unusual for this area.  Then yesterday morning we had a storm (it was unnoticed by the National Weather Service until after the fact) that brought gusts of 60+ mph. I went out at 3:30 AM to see what all the racket was.  Treetops were swinging wildly.  i didn't see any trees down, but I wasn't going to stand around in this wild weather.    Then a little later I went back after the winds subsided and saw this one that just missed my woodshed and shop. It is/was a big fir tree about 70 to 80 feet tall.   We're fortunate there was no real damage except to the surrounding trees.   I'm kind of a "tree-hugger" so I hate to see the beautiful trees go down.  We've got at least 5 more big trees down in the back of the property.  One of them snapped off about 25-feet up from the bottom and is now laying horizontally through the big maples limbs.

(below) Here's the top of it after I cut up enough to get my vehicles by:



(below) Here's the lower end. Diameter of the trunk here is 2 1/2 to 3-feet.  The roots stick up over 10-feet high:



(below) A picture from the root ball end.  Sorry about the sideways picture - nothing I did would change the orientation.



(below) This shows how the tree was guided/sandwiched in between some cedars and firs as it came down. Again, Sorry about the sideways picture.



Thanks for looking!

[rockjunquie]

Oh wow! That's pretty scary! Glad your workshop is ok- and your house. Weather is weird here, too. Can't complain about no snow, though.

[Pat]

Wow! Where are you?
Pictures look right to me.

Ok. I see. Husband from southern end of Puget Sound.

[MsAli]

Crazy weather for sure!
Glad you all are safe

[opalpyrexia]

I'm sorry to hear about your trees. Our home in Snohomish County is surrounded by very large trees, so we decided to sleep in a downstairs bedrooom in our daylight basement. In the morning we discovered that our general area was virtually untouched despite power outages from downed trees in the surrounding areas. We were lucky. We love all the trees but we worry when the winds exceed 50 mph.

[mossyrockhound]

Jan 7, 2019 20:52:29 GMT -5 Pat said:

Wow! Where are you?
Pictures look right to me.

Ok. I see. Husband from southern end of Puget Sound.

We're in Kitsap County, WA, about 20 miles West of Seattle.

Thanks for the comments.

[mohs]

That is some serious twisting winds

I was in Constantine, Michigan during an early morning
tornado event
We all hustled down to the basement
while the winds outside howled.
The next morning driving to work, through a rural area,
I saw huge oaks trees uprooted by the roots,
like in your pictures.
Unbelievable force

Uncommon weather events have always been
& I’m sure they're becoming even more common...

mohs

[hummingbirdstones]

Very sorry about your trees, Garry.  I love trees, too, and it's always sad when storms get them.  Glad you are all ok though, and that it didn't land on any of your buildings.

[mud]

Wow! Looks like you had 60+++mph winds. Sounds like it has been wet (even by Pacific NW standards) lately, which didn't help the situation. It's hard to see beautiful trees fall. Hopefully something beautiful or essential will come from them. Know any wood turners or craftsmen nearby?

[mossyrockhound]

Jan 7, 2019 21:08:26 GMT -5 opalpyrexia said:

I'm sorry to hear about your trees. Our home in Snohomish County is surrounded by very large trees, so we decided to sleep in a downstairs bedrooom in our daylight basement. In the morning we discovered that our general area was virtually untouched despite power outages from downed trees in the surrounding areas. We were lucky. We love all the trees but we worry when the winds exceed 50 mph.

Our house is surrounded by big trees too. When our kids were little I would have them sleep on the northeast side the chimney because our winds come from the southwest. That chimney would keep any big trees from coming down on them. When we first moved here I had a big bulldozer come in and "park it out". I told the operator to leave all trees larger than 6" in diameter. The trees are big and beautiful now (like a park), but we still worry about high winds. And I worry now when we go 75 days with no rain in late summer. I'd still rather be surrounded by trees than concrete and asphalt.

[mossyrockhound]

Jan 7, 2019 22:32:41 GMT -5 hummingbirdstones said:

Very sorry about your trees, Garry.  I love trees, too, and it's always sad when storms get them.  Glad you are all ok though, and that it didn't land on any of your buildings.

Thanks Robin! Yes, we were lucky this time. Man, I would have really been bummed if the tree landed on my shop!

[mossyrockhound]

Jan 7, 2019 22:55:47 GMT -5 mud said:

Wow! Looks like you had 60+++mph winds. Sounds like it has been wet (even by Pacific NW standards) lately, which didn't help the situation. It's hard to see beautiful trees fall. Hopefully something beautiful or essential will come from them. Know any wood turners or craftsmen nearby?

Yes, it has been very wet here. I just planted 11 cedar saplings down by the creek, but it would take a thousand like them to capture as much carbon as the big fir did. I don't know any wood turners who like to turn fir. That tree will probably end up in the wood shed.

I've lived through many high wind storms here, but this one was the worst one I can remember. I would guess the gusts here were closer to 70 mph than 60 mph. They were really fierce (for this area)! It sounded like a 747 jet flying low over our house. It is surprising any tall tree withstood those gusts. There are branches on the ground everywhere I look on my property.

Thanks for your comment.

[mossyrockhound]

Thanks rockjunquie, MsAli and @mohs for your comments! I would gladly pass on being around any more storms like the one we had yesterday! The strange thing about that storm is that it came quickly at night and was over by morning. A sound sleeper in a well-insulated house could have slept right through it. I just happened to see the worst of it because I was outside at 3:30 AM with a seriously ill dog.

[fernwood]

Glad no buildings were damaged.
You live in a beautiful area.

[mossyrockhound]

Jan 8, 2019 4:59:16 GMT -5 fernwood said:

Glad no buildings were damaged.
You live in a beautiful area.

Thanks Fernwood. We love it here.

[jamesp]

Lot n lots of hard work. Hate to see the loss of those impressive old majestic trees, heartbreaking.
Exercise caution in your clean up please.

[lookatthat]

How is the dog?

[mossyrockhound]

Jan 14, 2019 8:51:01 GMT -5 jamesp said:

Lot n lots of hard work. Hate to see the loss of those impressive old majestic trees, heartbreaking.
Exercise caution in your clean up please.

Thanks James! You're right about exercising caution. I experienced something I had never seen before while cutting the tree from in between the other trees - I cut one section and the tree literally "jumped" about 3-feet to the side until it hit another tree! I just happened to be standing on the right(correct) side of the tree while making the cut. If I would have been on the other side of the fir my legs would have been crushed. The section that jumped was about 18-inches in diameter. I guess you could call that a wake-up call.

[lookatthat]

Yes, they have quite a bit of tension built up, especially if they are still connected to a section of stump.

[mossyrockhound]

Jan 14, 2019 10:22:26 GMT -5 lookatthat said:

How is the dog?

Still seriously ill. We have been force-feeding him for the past 4 or 5 days, but he can still get up (with a leash) to go outside. Our neighbors say he is in "dog hospice". I keep asking myself why I ever gave him those Walmart chicken jerky treats.