LUCKY HOMEOWNER

OLD WHITE PINE ON 9TH ST. AND MANYPENNY AVE. ..

...THAT LOST ITS TOP...

...IN THE GALE FORCE WINDS..

...BUT MIRACULOUSLY MISSED THE HOUSE

Friday, 8:00 AM.  2 degrees F, both thermometers.  Wind N, breezy.  The sky is partly cloudy but clearing, the humidity 65%.  The barometer is steady, at 30.17".  The forecast calls for more cold weather with mixed skies for the next week, then snow on Monday and warming up some.  Still winter.

   As I have reported, we had three days of truly ferocious winds, and I expected to see trees down and lots of damage around Bayfield, but there was not much that is evident.  Perhaps that is a tribute to good tree care in the community, perhaps we have had enough strong winds in the last few years that old trees have been previously wind pruned, perhaps it is pure luck.  In any case, the worst damage I have seen is the top blown out of an old white pine on the corner of 9th St. and Manypenny Ave.

   It is a tree I have been watching for some years because it had some structural issues and I was not surprised to see it heavily damaged.  Luck was with the homeowner, however, as the massive trunk snapped off about fifteen feet up and fell in a way that it just missed damaging the house.  The tree should have been taken down previously, and is so damaged now that it will have to be done  anyway.  

   Luck  seldom happens more than once in the same way.