About 6:20 last night a very powerful thunderstorm microburst slammed
through
our neighbor hood here in Philippi, WV. We are still without power.
Falling trees brought down power lines, toppled telephone poles and
generally
wreaked havoc.

For five mintues things were WILD AND WOOLLY!!

A huge branch of a tulip tree slammed into half my rose garden. I will
be cutting it up today--it's as big as a medium sized tree-- and
surveying the damage.

From what I could see last night the worst hit were my R. moyesii and
R. xanthina. They used to be BIG shrubs; now they are modest bushes.

Ah well, the roses will probably recover, but the garden layout will
never be quite the same.

J. Del Col

(J. Del Col) writes:

For five mintues things were WILD AND WOOLLY!!

A huge branch of a tulip tree slammed into half my rose garden. I will
be cutting it up today--it's as big as a medium sized tree-- and
surveying the damage.

From what I could see last night the worst hit were my R. moyesii and
R. xanthina. They used to be BIG shrubs; now they are modest bushes.

Ah well, the roses will probably recover, but the garden layout will
never be quite the same.

How scary those five minutes must have been. I hope the damage isn't too bad.
But it's better the branch fell on the rose garden than the house. Human
damage is far worse.

In article , J. Del Col
wrote:

About 6:20 last night a very powerful thunderstorm microburst slammed
through
our neighbor hood here in Philippi, WV. We are still without power.
Falling trees brought down power lines, toppled telephone poles and
generally
wreaked havoc.

For five mintues things were WILD AND WOOLLY!!

A huge branch of a tulip tree slammed into half my rose garden. I will
be cutting it up today--it's as big as a medium sized tree-- and
surveying the damage.

From what I could see last night the worst hit were my R. moyesii and
R. xanthina. They used to be BIG shrubs; now they are modest bushes.

Ah well, the roses will probably recover, but the garden layout will
never be quite the same.

Recover, hell! They'll probably grow like demons just from a hard
prune. So...you got more sun, right? And it missed the house? Whew.
Those of us in earthquake country feel lucky sometimes. What's with
this microburst I keep hearing these days? We don't have them or not
often enough to know any better.

Cass wrote in news:080720031950517945%
:

In article , J. Del Col
wrote:

From what I could see last night the worst hit were my R. moyesii and
R. xanthina. They used to be BIG shrubs; now they are modest bushes.

Ah well, the roses will probably recover, but the garden layout will
never be quite the same.

Recover, hell! They'll probably grow like demons just from a hard
prune. So...you got more sun, right? And it missed the house? Whew.
Those of us in earthquake country feel lucky sometimes. What's with
this microburst I keep hearing these days? We don't have them or not
often enough to know any better.

I don't think they're common in California. Here's a page describing them:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jax/events/windshear.html

----

On Wed, 9 Jul 2003 16:40:22 +0000 (UTC), in rec.gardens.roses you
wrote:

Cass wrote in news:080720031950517945%
:

In article , J. Del Col
wrote:

From what I could see last night the worst hit were my R. moyesii and
R. xanthina. They used to be BIG shrubs; now they are modest bushes.

Ah well, the roses will probably recover, but the garden layout will
never be quite the same.

Recover, hell! They'll probably grow like demons just from a hard
prune. So...you got more sun, right? And it missed the house? Whew.
Those of us in earthquake country feel lucky sometimes. What's with
this microburst I keep hearing these days? We don't have them or not
often enough to know any better.

I don't think they're common in California. Here's a page describing them:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jax/events/windshear.html

Microburst are often so powerful that they cause damage commensurate
with tornados. Sometimes, it's only experts that can tell the
difference between the rotating winds of a tornado and the
straight-line winds of a microburst.

I would expect microbursts to be rare in California, since strong
thunderstorms are probably pretty rare, right?

dave weil wrote in
:

Microburst are often so powerful that they cause damage commensurate
with tornados. Sometimes, it's only experts that can tell the
difference between the rotating winds of a tornado and the
straight-line winds of a microburst.

I would expect microbursts to be rare in California, since strong
thunderstorms are probably pretty rare, right?

I won't speak for the northern part of our state, but in Southern
California thunderstorms occur (in the city, at least) once a year or less,
and when they occur they're rarely as profound as the ones I've witnessed
in the midwest or east coast. Desert areas of So Cal have thunderstorms in
summer, though, and during occasional violent weather one hears of
microbursts here, or even waterspouts over the ocean.

We have dry winds, of course, our Santa Anas, which can dry out a rose
garden within minutes of watering, if the accompanying temperatures are
high enough, but those aren't an everyday occurrence.

Hearing about all the weather elsewhere via rgr has humbled me. We don't
have anything like the deluges and tornadoes (and resultant diseases and
destruction) that I see recounted here. These stories make me realize how
tenuous rose growing can be in climates with those kinds of challenges, and
in an odd way (though I've always been fascinated by weather patterns
elsewhere) makes me appreciate what we have.

----

(Unique Too) wrote in message ...
(J. Del Col) writes:

For five mintues things were WILD AND WOOLLY!!

A huge branch of a tulip tree slammed into half my rose garden. I will
be cutting it up today--it's as big as a medium sized tree-- and
surveying the damage.

From what I could see last night the worst hit were my R. moyesii and
R. xanthina. They used to be BIG shrubs; now they are modest bushes.

Ah well, the roses will probably recover, but the garden layout will
never be quite the same.

How scary those five minutes must have been. I hope the damage isn't too bad.
But it's better the branch fell on the rose garden than the house. Human
damage is far worse.


Fortunately, no one was hurt, and only one house suffered serious
damage.

In that instance a very large tree flattened the deck, destroyed the
chimney and crushed a section of the roof.


As for my garden. I spent two hours cutting up and removing the
fallen branch.
No chain saws for me. I did it all with a bow saw, an axe and
loppers.

My ten year-old R. xanthina took the worst hit. Two thirds of its
canes were crushed beyond salvage--no big yellow billows in the spring
from that puppy for a few years. R. moyesii suffered only minor
damage. One hybrid perpetual was destroyed and several un-id'ed found
roses got flattened.

I pruned away the damaged canes from all the roses. My specimen of R.
stellata
had a close call but escaped harm. The falling branch also dislodged
many rocks from the dry stone wall surrounding the garden. As soon as
the incessant thunder showers let up, I 'll be out cleaning up and
restoring the area.


J. Del Col

saki writes:

I won't speak for the northern part of our state, but in Southern
California thunderstorms occur (in the city, at least) once a year or less,

Once a year?! Wow, they are a daily occurance here from June - September.
It's something you kind of get used to, plan your day to avoid being outside in
the afternoon. There's one going on as I type right now.


We have dry winds, of course, our Santa Anas, which can dry out a rose
garden within minutes of watering, if the accompanying temperatures are
high enough, but those aren't an everyday occurrence.


Our heat will dry out a rose rather quickly, but the regular rainfall usually
manages to keep the ones in the ground well hydrated.

Hearing about all the weather elsewhere via rgr has humbled me. We don't
have anything like the deluges and tornadoes (and resultant diseases and
destruction) that I see recounted here. These stories make me realize how
tenuous rose growing can be in climates with those kinds of challenges, and
in an odd way (though I've always been fascinated by weather patterns
elsewhere) makes me appreciate what we have.


Our newpaper has a daily question for the weatherman. Just recently someone
asked where they should move for year 'round moderate temperatures of 60-85
degrees and a comfortable humidity. The reply was the San Jose climate fits
this description best in the US.
But that's okay, I'll stay here with my thunderstorms, tornadoes, and
hurricanes. I'm as comfortable with them as those in CA are with their
earthquakes.

Julie