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WeatherMatrix
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Prohibited. Usage logged.
From: smwincva_wxman{at}webtv.net
Date: Thu Oct 16 2003 - 18:36:16 EDT
Winchester VA
A strong cold front left 1-2" of rain in the Mid Atlantic Tuesday
afternoon & night. A strong pressure gradient caused by deepening low in
PA generated widespread sustained winds 25 to 40 mph Wednesday.
In my area, wind gusts were about 50mph & easily exceeded Isabel's gusts
last month. Even though the wind advisory was in place and was worded to
include the 50mph wind gusts, many seemed caught off guard, my self
include.
When Isabel approached, we removed everything from outside to the
indoors. The only thing i did with this storm was postpone a trip to the
barber shop until today. (I bike & did not want to fight the wind).
The number of (dead) limbs in my yard easily equal that from Isabel (& i
thought she got rid of most of the dead branches!)
In my quest for preparation of Isabel, i had asked what to move inside
for the possibility of hurricane force gusts. My concern was for riding
toys for nieces & nephews when they come to visit.
For this storm, i did not move any of them. Although most were safe, a
toy truck, sitting on the edge of the carport, was blown about 75 feet
down into the yard.
On my way to the barber today, i saw 1 tree with a trunk about 5" thick
completely broke off several inches of the ground, over a short wall
into a yard. I saw numerous limbs down.
On the scanner Wednesday, there were numerous reports of downed trees &
power lines. A few homes were struck (see story in local news links).
Media accounts put the number at 50 calls for service in the local
counties. Allegheny Energy reported 1400 without power at the peak of
outages. That number was reduced to about 500 in the early evening Wed &
full restoration was forecast for this afternoon.
I measured a peak wind gust (PWG) of 46mph. WINC radio measured a PWG of
50mph. The Winchester Regional Airport measured a peak sustained wind of
38mph and a PWG of 53mph.
I checked the AWS schools/sites closest to my home early Wednesday
afternoon, a found most stations had PWGs over 40mph.
Those with PWG's over 50mph (thru early Wed afternoon)
58 Leesburg (VA) Godfrey Airport
58 Stone Bridge HS (Ashburn VA)
54 Valley View ES (Martinsburg WV)
53 Winchester (VA) Airport
52 Berkeley Heights ES (Martinsburg WV)
In addition, wx stations for WJLA tv (Washington DC) reported:
62 Towers Cresent (Tysons Corner VA)
53 Randolph Macon Academy (Front Royal VA)
Suprisingily, there were only 2 NWS statements (from the VA offices).
One was a local storm report from Blacksburg, the other was a PNS on
PWGs in the Baltimore/Washington CWA.
My photo album (a dozen vidcaps)
http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4003288&a=30911433&f=0
High/low/rain totals 24 hours ending 8am Wed (for Baltimore/Washington
CWA)
http://wxmatrix-membersonly/group/VA_StormNet/message/32633
Peak Wind Gusts Wednesday in Baltimore/Washington CWA
http://wxmatrix-membersonly/group/VA_StormNet/message/32650
Isabel's PWG's
http://wxmatrix-membersonly/group/VA_StormNet/message/31592
News stories from Mid Atlantic (also for the Cranberry PA 100 mph
microburst)
http://wxmatrix-membersonly/group/VA_StormNet/message/32653
Local storm Reports (Blacksburg, serving SW VA)
http://wxmatrix-membersonly/group/VA_StormNet/message/32627
Steve Minghini
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