Recently I described the havoc wreaked when a windstorm hit our valley on January 4. Trees were down everywhere, but especially in the city center where there are old homes and old growth trees.Yesterday I took my parents to "Neither Here Nor There," a local Lake Wobegon-like show put on at Building 270 near the county airport. It's a radio show that's not on the radio. But that's not surprising; folk in this valley can be quirky that way. The valley residents who put on this folksy program have time to do it just once a month, so that's how often they do it.
During the show yesterday they brought Kevin up to the microphone. He's a geologist who studies microclimates in our area. Sam, the show's emcee, asked Kevin to talk about what happened on January 4 from the viewpoint of one who keeps track of the weather. Kevin gave us some very informative stuff on wind patterns, barometer readings, and suchlike.
Then Sarah the co-director asked him about why so many trees fell.
It was mainly the trees in town that fell, Kevin said; they have root systems close to the surface because they are irrigated. They don't have to go deep to find water, so they are more easily toppled. He went on to explain that trees that are less protected build up strength because they are having to resist the wind. The winds in our valley usually come from the south or southwest, and the trees have built up a strength that "leans" that direction.
Over in a nearby town, Kevin said, there was a summer thunderstorm a while back. The storm created a change in the pressure so that the winds came from the north instead of from the south. "The trees went down like matchsticks," he said. "They hadn't built up resistance to pressure from that side." In fact, he went on, in the Biosphere in Arizona, the scientists thought they'd created the perfect environment for life to thrive. But the trees put out branches and then dropped them because there was no wind to build up their strength, even to hold up their own branches.
He that has ears, let him hear what the Spirit has to say in this matter.
Thank you for this meaningful parable.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for blogging and very often making my day. You have been given an award because you give me much to think about and reflect. And all that with excellent pictures and art!
I think I once read about a guy who would go out and shake his young trees etc to help them grow sturdy. It was fiction but based on reality, I think.
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