So our big storm was called a derecho. It was scary.

[wintermom]

We had the craziest storm on Saturday, that apparently passed across 1000km from Michigan, thought Ontario and Quebec, and on to Maine. I lost power for 2 days, along with much of our city. Limited grocery stores and gas stations opened, causing traffic jams. Limited coffee shops open which caused even more traffic jams and panic - certainly from me. I guess I'm not the only one who needs their caffiene dose in the morning. Sadly, lives were lost and the lives of a lot of trees. A favourite tree of mine in the neighbourhood that's always lit up with blue lights at Christmas went down, lights and all. "Oakie" also went down - a large tree in the school yard that my nephew named. I think it might be a maple, but Oakie is a good name for a very big tree. 

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/what-is-a-derecho-climatologist-explains-saturday-s-powerful-storm-1.5914534

[ScoutTN]

Glad you are ok! Sorry about all the damage! Hate losing big trees.

[Arcadia]

Thats scary and I learned a new word “derecho”.  I boil water to fill my 1 litre thermos flask every night just so that I can make a cup of instant coffee when I wake up without waiting for my kettle to boil. I am probably a much worse coffee addict than you. If I am out of hot water, I would just shake vigorously the instant coffee in a 240ml mineral water bottle to dissolve and just drink. My backup for caffeine is Coca Cola. 

[Laura Corin]

I'm sorry about the storm disruption.  An interesting side note about old trees that do survive storms. Scroll down to Root Management http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7033148.stm

[wintermom]

1 hour ago, Laura Corin said:

I'm sorry about the storm disruption.  An interesting side note about old trees that do survive storms. Scroll down to Root Management http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7033148.stm

Very good article. Thanks for the link. There's definitely a problem with the roots of many of the trees that went down. Much too shallow roots for the height of the trees, and not broad enough root systems. We're on the Canadian Shield, which is a giant plate of rock. The roots probably couldn't get deep enough because of the rock. 

[Laura Corin]

9 minutes ago, wintermom said:

Very good article. Thanks for the link. There's definitely a problem with the roots of many of the trees that went down. Much too shallow roots for the height of the trees, and not broad enough root systems. We're on the Canadian Shield, which is a giant plate of rock. The roots probably couldn't get deep enough because of the rock. 

At our last house we had a lot of larches interspersed with sycamores, all probably planted to protect crops from cold east winds. The trees were estimated to be about 40 years old. In their attempt to reach light, the larches had grown tall but when they keeled over in spring winds, their roots only went about 50cm deep. The sycamores had just crowded them out at the roots as well as in the canopy. 

[Guest]

We had a derecho here a few years ago. Until then, I had never heard of it either. 

[Scarlett]

I had never heard of it either.  Glad you are ok.  

[Farrar]

I will never forget our derecho a few years ago. It was so bizarre. I remember standing at the window watching it and both dh and I being like what the heck is happening right now. It was like a tornado but fast and broad and straight. I'd also never heard of that phenomenon until it happened. 

I hope your community is getting back on its feet now.

[alysee]

We are in Ontario but thankfully we were not hit very hard. 2 hours of thunderstorm and high winds but we didn't lose power like some of my family did who live a few hours away. There were a shocking amount of deaths(10 or 11) due to falling branches across Ontario which is absolutely tragic. 

[wintermom]

29 minutes ago, alysee said:

We are in Ontario but thankfully we were not hit very hard. 2 hours of thunderstorm and high winds but we didn't lose power like some of my family did who live a few hours away. There were a shocking amount of deaths(10 or 11) due to falling branches across Ontario which is absolutely tragic. 

Glad your area wasn't hit too hard. I just heard that half of Ottawa lost power at the peak, and many won't have it restored for several days or even a couple of weeks. It was a worse storm than the ice storm and the more recent tornado storm. Just crazy powerful winds that hit a much broader area than a tornado. There were so many falling branches, and they are very heavy. So sad that people lost their lives.

We heard a radio warning in the car twice in the span of 2 minutes, so we knew something big was approaching. We zipped home and secured the yard as much as possible then stayed inside to watch the storm. 

With the long weekend and many people camping, they'd be so vulnerable in tents or trailers in wooded areas. 

[Terabith]

I’m so sorry.  We had a really bad one here about ten years ago that knocked out power for two weeks when the temps were over a hundred degrees.  It was awful and destroyed so many big trees.  Just absolutely bizarre. Had never heard of it before then either. 

[Acadie]

So sorry to hear people lost their lives and of all the damage--that is scary.

I'm wondering if dd19 and I drove through the remnants of that storm system in western MA on Sunday evening. The sky looked threatening and then all of sudden driving wind and rain drove leaves and small-to-medium branches sideways before us. We heard a few loud clunks on the car roof and have four dents now! We questioned whether to stop or keep going but it was 10 min to my parents' house and my instinct was to get us out of the woods and up onto their cleared hilltop. The next day we heard their town sustained significant damage to houses and trees. 

[prairiewindmomma]

Yuck.

I've been through a few derechos and the straight line winds can cause every bit as much damage as a tornado. I'm glad you and yours are safe, and I hope your area can go back to normal quickly.