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Hurricane Sandy


Wonderdog

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wind direction matters a bit too. we're "used" to nor'easters. tho low elevations still have lots of leaves and if we get to a euro type solution there's going to be mass carnage.

You know, I've often wondered about trees' ability to strengthen themselves in relation to the predominant winds. You can look at telephone polls, in this area at least, and see evidence of them leaning slightly eastward, apparently due to the buffetting inflicted by the westerly winds. Do trees' roots orient themselves moreso into the direction of the oncoming winds to provide greater anchoring strength?

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You know, I've often wondered about trees' ability to strengthen themselves in relation to the predominant winds. You can look at telephone polls, in this area at least, and see evidence of them leaning slightly eastward, apparently due to the buffetting inflicted by the westerly winds. Do trees' roots orient themselves moreso into the direction of the oncoming winds to provide greater anchoring strength?

I don't have scientific proof offhand but I'd bet trees are stronger against winds they typically get. There are lots of places where you can see them "molded" to the predominant wind directions. I think people have said part of the problem with Isabel was that the wind direction was not a typical one for super strong winds around here.

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I don't have scientific proof offhand but I'd bet trees are stronger against winds they typically get. There are lots of places where you can see them "molded" to the predominant wind directions. I think people have said part of the problem with Isabel was that the wind direction was not a typical one for super strong winds around here.

I'm guessing this will be moved over to the banter thread, but its called 'flagging'.

post-3375-0-60414000-1351177874_thumb.jp

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I don't have scientific proof offhand but I'd bet trees are stronger against winds they typically get. There are lots of places where you can see them "molded" to the predominant wind directions. I think people have said part of the problem with Isabel was that the wind direction was not a typical one for super strong winds around here.

It also depends on how deep the roots are, whether the tree is diseased, or the soil type. Palm tree of course have the deepest roots. But I'm not sure we get enough strong sustained winds for trees to "learn" how they need to "protect" themselves from wind. I thought the Palm was the only tree that did that because of the higher frequency of tropical weather. What could happen and has happened is even though the root system is strong, a tree can get snapped at the trunk or higher up and still cause damage. I do agree that the leaf canopy is thinning out. At least in my neighborhood. That's a good thing. But still some trees that are still green and full.

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I'm guessing this will be moved over to the banter thread, but its called 'flagging'.

post-3375-0-60414000-1351177874_thumb.jp

Wow, something in my wheelhouse (ecologist by trade)--see here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krummholz

As far as root/structural development in response to wind stress, I believe it can be one factor affecting growth and development, but slope, soil conditions, nutrient availability, water availability, etc. would play a much stronger role in this area generally--so basically I wouldn't expect it to help us much here, other than the fact that prior wind events will have help to cull out the weakest specimens already.

A bigger factor that may come into play since fall is under way would be that some tree species lose their leaves earlier than others, so the trees still holding their leaves will be more exposed to the wind stresses.

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Does DT post on any other boards, or has he managed to get himself banned from the internet?

I think he's fully Facebook and his own site. Easier to remove disagreeable commentary toward him.

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The track after landfall will have significant impact on our wx here regardless of whether landfall is in LI or Delmarva. It all comes down to whether the track goes more west than north or vice versa. The more westward track the higher the winds and longer duration. I have a hard time buying into some of the wnw-w tracks. I guess it can happen but it's so atypical that being skeptical is prob the way to go.

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Thanks, makes sense due to the sheer size of the storm. Are effects on the scale of Isabel likely?

Depends on which way you look at it. Not the same from a flooding standpoint like we saw with the chesapeake. IMO- I think the threat of more widespread damage from winds is quite a bit higher.

On a side note, if we have sustained trop storm force winds from the n-nw then the chesapeake will have ridiculously low tides.

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The track after landfall will have significant impact on our wx here regardless of whether landfall is in LI or Delmarva. It all comes down to whether the track goes more west than north or vice versa. The more westward track the higher the winds and longer duration. I have a hard time buying into some of the wnw-w tracks. I guess it can happen but it's so atypical that being skeptical is prob the way to go.

for those sick bastids (that would be "all of us") hoping to see a few flakes, a hit north of us (vs. Euro right at us track) and then a hard left would give us the best shot, so let's hope the Euro follows suit with its winter-time characteristics of shoving storms to the north (this being a different beast than a winter storm I readily acknowledge)

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for those sick bastids (that would be "all of us") hoping to see a few flakes, a hit north of us (vs. Euro right at us track) and then a hard left would give us the best shot, so let's hope the Euro follows suit with its winter-time characteristics of shoving storms to the north (this being a different beast than a winter storm I readily acknowledge)

Yup...we actually want a northern hit to increase the already small chance we see some flakes.

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Yup...we actually want a northern hit to increase the already small chance we see some flakes.

meh.. we're not going to get a snowstorm around here/dc. we might as well root for pure mayhem with it coming as close as possible.

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meh.. we're not going to get a snowstorm around here/dc. we might as well root for pure mayhem with it coming as close as possible.

This. I don't see a situation where close in to the metros gets anything more than a flurry...and even then perhaps I'm reaching a little bit.

I don't want destruction, but this is such a rare event that I'd rather get a lot of impact to see just how strong it can get. This could be a super rare experience...willing to sustain some damage to see it. I'm not very fond in this situation of watching it completely go north into NE just so we can get 5 snowflakes.

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