Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain! Out here on my hill in South Central OK,, the wind is blowing so hard that it is knocking things down, and (the squirrels will LOVE this) it has blown all the sunflower seeds out of the bird feeder and on to the ground. The sky is full of dust, and I don't DARE to take my little red "beetle" out on the road. I couldn't POSSIBLY keep it In the proper lane. I guess, next to ice, I hate wind the most. I feel really sorry for those with soft greenhouses and row covers! According to "Weatherbug", it is supposed to calm down after midnight. Maybe I dozed off and March crept upon me!

Jeanie

Jeanie,
I have been out moving tumble weeds for an hour. I'm going to run an internet special. You bring the semi and I'll fill it up. LOL. The wind is dieing down here. I should of started an hour earlier. It died while I was trying to move the tumble weeds so they would go on their way. Hopefully we will get a strong SW wind soon and that should move them on east and out of town. Jay

Jay,
No tumbleweeds, but will have to re-hang bird feeders tomorrow and re-fill them. Fortunately, my trash can is full, so won't have to drive to Arkansas to retrieve it. HA. Still blowing here, but hope it dies down soon. Lawsey, lawsey, wonder if we are going to have any real Winter weather this year. I am just a wee anxious as to up-coming Summer!

Jeanie

Jay, I hate to hear there was a fire on your brother-in-law and sister's property, but am glad they didn't lose any structures. It is very unfortunate that they are likely to lose soil to wind erosion in the absence of vegetation to hold it in place.

It was horrible here yesterday, but I got up early and got busy cooking, so already had the food prepared before the fire pagers started going off.

We only had one fire close to us, and it was on the property behind my gardening friend, Fred's, place. As we were on our way there, I was worried about his house, but the wind carried the fire away from his house, so it all worked out. His whole veggie garden plot is freshly plowed, so it would have served as a pretty good firebreak anyway.

The wind was not as bad here as it was further west and northwest. I bet our highest wind gusts were in the upper 30s or lower 40s, but in those winds, fires still can be hard to control. Half of West Texas blew in with the dust storm in late afternoon and that part of it was just awful. We were home by dark, though, so it wasn't nearly as bad of a day as it could have been. Even here in our county, most of the fires were in the northern part of the county and not the southern part where I live. Some VFDs were much busier than we were.

Today I have to go outside and gather up lawn furniture that blew around and birdfeeders that got blown down, etc.

It was our first Red Flag Fire Warning of the year, and I hope it is a long time before we have another.

It is supposed to rain here tomorrow and it if does, that will give us minor fire protection for a few days. Of course, it won't help with dry, dormant vegetation, but with the rain and lots of sunny, warm to hot winter days, we have a lot of green up in the fields already and that helps us a whole lot.

I suppose yesterday's wind, extreme fire danger and dust storm reminds us all of what is coming with the strong spring winds. I sure was glad yesterday that it is so early in the season that I didn't have to worry about the wind beating the living daylights out of a garden full of plants.

Dawn