Oh come on Terry, 1991, 1995, close a friggin' 'nough! :D
I was on the pier (Sterns Warf) in Santa Barbara during a micro-burst. I actually knew what it was when it happened. I guessed the wind was 80 mph, and the news later confirmed I was right. They have measuring equipment very close to the pier. The scary part was I was on the end of the pier moments before it hit. The end of the pier is unprotected. No guard rails, just a 30 foot drop off into the ocean, and over a 2/3rds mile swim to shore. Anyway, as I looked out over the horizon I saw a pretty weird cloud formation for the summertime. It stood alone, about a mile away and it actually looked like a mini hurricane. I decided weird is usually nature's way of telling us... GET OUT! so I walked back to where the buildings on the warf were located, about 1000 feet back. I'm glad I did. Right when I got there, large rain drops started, followed quickly by hail and a strong gust of wind. I went into a shop when the rain turned to hail and looked out a window to see the wind picking up quickly to that 80 mph speed. Everything outside was blowing sideways. The wind took down four of the giant metal flagpoles outside, but the noise from the wind was so loud, no one heard them crash on the pier. A lot of people in the shop thought it was a tornado. They must have thought I was a meteorologist, as I told everyone it was a micro-burst, the wind was probably close to 80 mph, and it would be over in about a minute, which it was. When I walked back to my car I thought it might be OK, because I purposely don't park under trees. Not because of micro-bursts, we never had such a thing before, but because I can live without the copious gifting associated with the many feathered residents who take up residence in those trees. I noticed the many palm trees in the area were damaged, but what was pretty amazing is some large ones were snapped in half, like toothpicks. There was also almost a foot of standing water on many streets near the pier. That's a lot to happen in just a minute. Hurricanes last a lot longer.
Honestly, if authorities order a mandatory evacuation, I'd take this one seriously. I keep watching the news for changes in pressure systems, wind shear, etc. and nothing positive seems to be developing so far. There is even high pressure building on the west side, which will stall the storm. I still hope everyone in the area gets through this with little or no incident and I'd like to see this era of sensationalism pass so instead our headlines are filled with stories about fires that get prevented or put out before houses are burned, storms that dissipate with no flooding, and mudslides that only occur in Africa because they don't have plastic to make the types of slides in our non-3rd world playgrounds. Maybe if Trump can get more congressional support, we can do our part by improving the infrastructure in and around our family homes so the destructive effects of nature can be better minimized or prevented. Anyway, at least got Dimster off the hook, as obviously it's all about me, now. I'm concerned about Dav, too. I've known him for a long time. He's not just an amazing programmer, but he also has really good Karma, so I'm betting whatever he decides will be right.
Pete
