H7 is 700 mb winds. That translates at surface to 45-55kt over here, not sure what it translates to over there, but certainly the surface for population centers is well below 700 mb, altho I'd say maybe peaks above 9500-10k feet will get pummeled.

Still quite the storm on satellite and upper air analyses altho tilted the wrong way. The hemispheric pattern has the potential to be very stable, but the low positions are poised for coastal and near-interior effects, including good portion of western third of northern intermountain west.

Dan

Okay, Dan's scientific weather talk is way over my head, but I do understand Red Flag Warning, Fire Weather Watch, and High Wind Warning, which is what we have for the next couple of days. Yep, translates into put the garbage can in the garage, or chase it down the street.

Glad I held off planting out most of my wintersown sprouts. It's easy to get fooled by those 60º - 70º days in April. Hopefully, the lettuce and peas I put in this weekend will be able to tough it out.

Bonnie

The surface over there now is ~4000-5000 feet below the 700 mb height, so the forecast discussion in the OP talking about the winds at H7 means the winds 4-5k feet above Grand Junction's head. So those wind speeds will be considerably up the hill at elevations ~9-10k feet, not in GJ. Still, down in Grand Valley, you will see winds 15-25 mph less than the H7 height mentioned above. Still good wind. The storm is tilted the wrong way, meaning among other things the precip will get wrung out considerably before it reaches GJ, but the pattern in the N hemisphere wants to stay the way it is, meaning more of the same for a while if the atmosphere in the N hemisphere stays similar to today.

Dan

Did that help, Bonnie?

:-D
Skybird

P.S. I think it may translate to:
Batten down the trash can, which you're already taking care of!
BTW, your peas and lettuce will be fine--if they don't blow out of the ground!

Apparently I need to get a translator, maybe one like the two cops routine on the old Sanford and Son comedy show - esp when translating a technical transmission for professional weather forecasters and meterologists...

;o)

Dan

We'll no doubt get some roof damage. Thursday night the low is supposed to be 29. I'm not worried about salad greens, but carrots, broccoli-raab, cabbage, radish, and potatoes I don't know about. Do I need to cover these assuming they survive the wind?

The layman's version on NOAA says sustained winds of 30 -35 mph, with gusts up to 55 mph for my location : )

Katykelly, my carrots and radishes are just now sprouting. I'm not planning on covering, but I am attempting to keep them well watered, which should help a bit.

Bonnie

You'll want to cover to protect from wind, we had gusts in 50s here last week and glad I did. My potatoes get covered below 30º, not sure they need it but it only takes me a minute or so. My carrots and everything else gets what temperature they get, they got hail last week too.

Dan

I DON'T EVEN WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT.
OK, I will talk about it.
My little GH is still standing and my tomatoes in it are still OK. 750 watt heater in it with a thermostat seems to work OK. Frost around the county last night. How much more wind it or my nerves can take is a question.
KennyP

We're up to a High Wind Warning now. ....

WITH MODELS SHOWING 50 KNOT WIND AT 700 MB CUTTING ACROSS SE UTAH TO
NW COLORADO. THESE WINDS WILL MIX TO THE SURFACE GIVEN STEEPENING
LAPSE RATES AND A DEEP LAYERED SHEARED ENVIRONMENT. STRONG
CONFIDENCE THAT HIGH WIND GUSTS WILL OCCUR...POSSIBLY SUSTAINED AT
40 KNOTS FOR AN HOUR OR TWO...

They quit calling our dust storms dust storms. Now they are wind storms with lots of dust, and then it proceeds to tell you to stay inside if you have trouble breathing dust and so on. Nope, no dust storms here, move along, now, nothing to see.....

Only once I drove I70 from Whazzit Junction (Moab turn off) to Grand Junction in a dust storm. That was the storm before they put up the helpful signs about doing 40 mph and never, ever, slow down or speed up. But we have US Highway 491 running down to Gallup which can get dust drifts across the road that they need to plow off.

Well, now in addition to the High Wind, and Red Flag Warning, there is a 60% chance of snow tomorrow, with lows dipping down to 25º over the next couple of nights, and highs in the 40's.

No wonder there are so few gardeners living here... sigh.

We're down to 22º on Friday night.

OK, I'm sick of the wind and the cold night temps. Luckily I have not planted my tomatoes and peppers yet.

Can anyone tell me why I cannot post to a thread twice in the same day without getting a "message rejected" ? TIA, as I won't be able to reply until my computer registers 12:00 A.M., 4/29/2010.

I cannot post to a thread twice in the same day without getting a "message rejected"

IIRC it tells you why, but just change the subject heading a little bit.

We had stronger winds on this side than at the GJC airport. Waaaaay too hot for the coldframe. Wondering how I'm going to ensure veggies are all snuggly while we are in Nebraska (sssshhh...don't trust the MIL).

Dan

Woke up to several inches of snow up here in Fort Collins, but thankfully it's all melting rather quickly...

We had a couple flurries, but more interesting was a precip event that precipitated more orange-red dust than water. Have to wash all the house windows now. And truck. And rinse off veggies and row covers. Never saw so much dust rain out before today.

Off to Nebraska soon. I'll relay the springtime flora there to make us all envious...

Dan

Hey, is a row cover enough to protect an apple tree at 24º? One of them is covered in bright red buds, which will be the first year it has bloomed. It was planted in spring of '08. Very excited about the possiblity of apples, but bummed that this cold snap may kill the blooms. The other tree didn't have any visible blooms yet. Not sure if it is just a little behind the other one (different varieties), or if it wasn't going to bloom this year anyway.

We had over an inch of snow this morning, and the forecast is calling for one or two more tonight ... along with the freeze warning. At least the wind finally died back a bit.

Bonnie

Bonnie, it wouldn't hurt to try, but I doubt it would make much difference.

Dan, I want my dirt back. I'll send a SASE.

Make that a BIG SASE, David!

;-D
Skybird

Dan, why are the northern lows this spring so cold? Not much moisture, but colder than we'd typically expect. El Nino has lost his influence, I believe.

As far as covering: I place water filled five gallon buckets among my plants and throw a piece of clear, six mil polyethylene over the top. Gives me several degrees of cushion. I'm vigilant of frost until July 1. I've had uncovered spinach damaged around Memorial Day! Two or three years ago, broccoli and peas were frozen around the 3rd week of June!

Mark

We got the dust here too. I just washed almost all the house windows a couple weeks ago (which is really quite a rarity for me) and now they're all dirty again. I hope we get some rain soon to knock out this dust.

Wow, was it windy up north today, or what? The house was shuddering all day long.

Good thing I had row cover tacked down really well, or else the seedlings would've turned all dry and crispy!

Dan, why are the northern lows this spring so cold?

Haven't read the views yet, Mark, as I've been traveling and under deadlines. But in looking at the the past few weeks, the high pressure ridges are relatively stable and high amplitude, meaning they stay in one place and extend well toward the poles, so there is a pipeline of cold air rushing down. I'd say El Niño is winding down, but the tantrum isn't fully over yet.

(Old-school folks use primarily the 500 mb as that is halfway up the atmosphere, out of reach of almost all friction, and not up to the tropopause yet so still part of weather. )

Dan

Posted by laura_42: "Wow, was it windy up north today, or what? . . ."

Laura, I thought maybe you meant waaay up north. Then I realized your location and I'm a nervous wreck from the wind, 800 miles to the north of that.

Yesterday, wind gusts to 59mph and it only let up some, today. There was an hour around lunch time when the sustained wind was below 20mph but that was it.

This morning, everything seemed just dry and dirty until I sprayed water on the window of the pickup. It promptly froze! At the garden 20 miles away, it was freezing but even a shallow puddle there was too active to have ice. So, it wasn't quite as cold.

The plants took quite a beating in the wind . . . which continued. I thought about turning on a sprinkler to give them a little more moisture but it had rained over night and a little during the day, yesterday. The wind was so strong, I was concerned about chilling them further from the evaporation.

Tomorrow morning will be even colder, the Weather Service says. I'll be out there at sunrise because I think the wind will stop. . . . Do you suppose there's any truth to this odd idea I have that the friction created from beating the plant against the soil surface actually warms things up??

If life doesn't get a little easier out there for the plants -- it is going be me beating my head against the soil surface . . .

Steve

When they really got going, our winds at the house today were only G 25-41; looking at the obs around the area we were spared, as too far away from hills to feel Chinook. Relatives live at mouth of a canyon prone to Chinook winds in the hills near Longmont and haven't heard their damage stories yet. I used to live at the base of Chinook Pass in WA and I don't miss those winds in the winter one dang bit - you could hear the change in tone/pitch, and you knew where they were and how long 'til they hit the house and everyone had trouble sleeping when they (usually) hit at night.

The fam and neighbors kind of chuckled when I had all the hoops bent and fabric cut to size for the wind. Yet this morning the MIL asked if I had everything secured when it started howling...

Dan