Wind storm for Oregon and Washington

[Kathi]

Ok Mr.Producer.I know that I am Dorothy but who is the Scare Crow,Tin Man and the Lion?The Scarecrow needed a brain,The Tin Man needed a heart and the Lion needed courage.Now who is going to get stuck being the Scarecrow?And you are Glinda?

 

[TOG]

Entertainment Tonight!
Kathi, Jethro, TOG, and Rollo.

It's true. I have no heart and my joints are rusty.

The TOG​

 

[Kathi]

And Mr.Producer who gets to be cast as..and don't say reba or you will get the

 

[Kathi]

The winds are pretty strong now...Auntie Em...Auntie Em....if all of a sudden I am not on any longer our power has gone off.

 

[Kathi]

Well....Rollo goes to bed at about 9PM and he is EST so I don't think there will be a lot of dramatics tonight.

 

[Jesse]

Ok, so I live in WA and they have been saying we'll be having windstorms for 3 days now and it's been sort of nasty but nothing like they keep talking about. I heard the coast got high winds yesterday and I saw on the news where buildings were blown over, some land is even under the Pacific now.

Yet, here it's just been raining, raining and raining.....I am not holding my breath that we will get high winds here. Maybe it will be different tonight though.....it's just raining, and raining and....

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

Ok Mr.Producer.I know that I am Dorothy but who is the Scare Crow,Tin Man and the Lion?The Scarecrow needed a brain,The Tin Man needed a heart and the Lion needed courage.Now who is going to get stuck being the Scarecrow?And you are Glinda?

Come on now, we know that you are the Scarecrow.
That's the first thing settled.
And since I insist on being the star of the show, I'm Dorothy (I do good makeup, don't I?).

 

[Obadiah]

Does anyone know where "batten down the hatches" comes from?

ask Obadiah he lives on a boat

Yep, it's a nautical term. The old cargo ships had these huge hatches in their decks that could be lifted off to load cargo into the holds. The battens were originally long boards that would be put over the top and tied down to anchor points on the deck beside the hatches so a storm couldn't lift off a hatch and fill the ship with water. Hence the term "battening down the hatches". On modern general cargo ships the hatches are held down with clamps around the sides. The clamps are still called battens.

Speaking of Obadiah I hope he will be safe.

hope he has battened down his hatches

Oh yeah. I have small hatches and they are battened down. This time of year they stay that way unless I need one open for something. A lot of other things are tied down as well. But this is normal up here as I'm near the mouth of the Frasier canyon and the winds tend to funnel up and down the canyon regularly. So far today we've had sustained winds of up to 36 mph but I don't know what the gusts have been. It can go over 100 mph here sometimes, but that's rare. The local private weather station a few blocks away (http://ptlnet.net/ptl.htm) doesn't have a true gust meter as the gust has to hold for quite a while before it will register.

But it's been blowing like this for days now and does it every year in the late fall and winter. It's not so bad when it's not icy. Sometimes when the docks are covered with ice and the wind gets up in the 60mph range it can push you right off the dock into the icy water. That can kill you fast! I have steel crampons (the spiky thinks mountaineers wear on their boots) for when it gets like that. No ice now though. Its a balmy 56º outside!

 

[Kathi]

Well,our power went off for 3 hours.Then the pump to our well did not come on and we do not have any water.This is the second time this has happened and I am not a happy camper about it.I called the owner of this house at 11PM and told him how unhappy that I am.That means that I have to bring in buckets and buckets of water to put in the back of the toilet so it will flush.

 

[Kathi]

Come on now, we know that you are the Scarecrow.
That's the first thing settled.
And since I insist on being the star of the show, I'm Dorothy (I do good makeup, don't I?).

Not as good as Dustin Hoffman

 

[Jesse]

Yep, it's a nautical term. The old cargo ships had these huge hatches in their decks that could be lifted off to load cargo into the holds. The battens were originally long boards that would be put over the top and tied down to anchor points on the deck beside the hatches so a storm couldn't lift off a hatch and fill the ship with water. Hence the term "battening down the hatches". On modern general cargo ships the hatches are held down with clamps around the sides. The clamps are still called battens.





Oh yeah. I have small hatches and they are battened down. This time of year they stay that way unless I need one open for something. A lot of other things are tied down as well. But this is normal up here as I'm near the mouth of the Frasier canyon and the winds tend to funnel up and down the canyon regularly. So far today we've had sustained winds of up to 36 mph but I don't know what the gusts have been. It can go over 100 mph here sometimes, but that's rare. The local private weather station a few blocks away (http://ptlnet.net/ptl.htm) doesn't have a true gust meter as the gust has to hold for quite a while before it will register.

But it's been blowing like this for days now and does it every year in the late fall and winter. It's not so bad when it's not icy. Sometimes when the docks are covered with ice and the wind gets up in the 60mph range it can push you right off the dock into the icy water. That can kill you fast! I have steel crampons (the spiky thinks mountaineers wear on their boots) for when it gets like that. No ice now though. Its a balmy 56º outside!

Do you really live in a boat Obidiah? On the Sound? Or where?

We lost power here for 10 hours. Just came back on.

 

[Obadiah]

Yep, up in Drayton Harbor right on the Canadian border.

Never lost power last night. Just got one little blip that was enough to shut down my computer and make the mercury vapor lights on the docks have to restart themselves, but other than that it was hardly noticeable. A couple of other boats got their sails shredded when their roller furlers unrolled. But that's a matter of them not being secured properly. As you said, we've been warned this was coming for days now, but some people just pull their boats into the dock and walk away with no thought to securing anything and don't even bother to come down and check when bad weather is forecast. Every time we get a reasonably strong wind I see thousands of dollars of sails destroyed. But other than that and a few torn up tarps I don't think there's any damage here. All in all it was kind of a fun night!

 

[Jesse]

Yep, up in Drayton Harbor right on the Canadian border.

Never lost power last night. Just got one little blip that was enough to shut down my computer and make the mercury vapor lights on the docks have to restart themselves, but other than that it was hardly noticeable. A couple of other boats got their sails shredded when their roller furlers unrolled. But that's a matter of them not being secured properly. As you said, we've been warned this was coming for days now, but some people just pull their boats into the dock and walk away with no thought to securing anything and don't even bother to come down and check when bad weather is forecast. Every time we get a reasonably strong wind I see thousands of dollars of sails destroyed. But other than that and a few torn up tarps I don't think there's any damage here. All in all it was kind of a fun night!

I have never been to that Harbor, nor heard of it, but I am sure it is interesting to live on the water, especially during the winter. With the last few summers we've had, I can only imagine how nice it's been for you.

Where I live, it seems we lose power if there is even a slight breeze.

During this time of year, I like it when it is freezing cold and sunny, of course I would take 70 and sunny but that doesn't happen in December. lol

 

[Kathi]

Yep, up in Drayton Harbor right on the Canadian border.

Never lost power last night. Just got one little blip that was enough to shut down my computer and make the mercury vapor lights on the docks have to restart themselves, but other than that it was hardly noticeable. A couple of other boats got their sails shredded when their roller furlers unrolled. But that's a matter of them not being secured properly. As you said, we've been warned this was coming for days now, but some people just pull their boats into the dock and walk away with no thought to securing anything and don't even bother to come down and check when bad weather is forecast. Every time we get a reasonably strong wind I see thousands of dollars of sails destroyed. But other than that and a few torn up tarps I don't think there's any damage here. All in all it was kind of a fun night!

I did not think that the wind was that bad last night.We had a windstorm that was 3 times as bad in November.That is why I was so confused why we lost power.But I am way out in the country.Maybe that makes a difference.

 

[Obadiah]

Drayton Harbor is the name of the harbor at Blaine, last stop on Interstate 5 before you go into Canada. I can see White Rock in Canada from my windows.

I used to live in a house in Birch Bay (just south of here) and had the same problem with the power there. Seems sometimes all it would take was the thought of the power going off, and it would be off. The electric company finally found out there was a main underground power cable that had been getting water into it and causing the problem. Ya just never know!

 

[Obadiah]

I did not think that the wind was that bad last night.We had a windstorm that was 3 times as bad in November.That is why I was so confused why we lost power.But I am way out in the country.Maybe that makes a difference.

It's been worse here too in the past. But for your case, all it takes in one tree falling on the power lines and you lose power. Could have been one just ready to fall somewhere and this wind was it's last straw.

 

[Jesse]

Drayton Harbor is the name of the harbor at Blaine, last stop on Interstate 5 before you go into Canada. I can see White Rock in Canada from my windows.

I used to live in a house in Birch Bay (just south of here) and had the same problem with the power there. Seems sometimes all it would take was the thought of the power going off, and it would be off. The electric company finally found out there was a main underground power cable that had been getting water into it and causing the problem. Ya just never know!

Maybe that is what's going on here, too, with the underground wiring.

I just looked at a map and saw Drayton Harbor, that's a big one, I have been there then because I've been to that side of the Penisula. I have been to Birch Bay as well, it's beautiful there, just a lot more rain I think.

 

[Kathi]

It's been worse here too in the past. But for your case, all it takes in one tree falling on the power lines and you lose power. Could have been one just ready to fall somewhere and this wind was it's last straw.

How often do you take your boat out?Sailing is so peaceful.You only hear the water.

 

[Kathi]

Maybe that is what's going on here, too, with the underground wiring.

I just looked at a map and saw Drayton Harbor, that's a big one, I have been there then because I've been to that side of the Penisula. I have been to Birch Bay as well, it's beautiful there, just a lot more rain I think.

I think that Seattle gets more rain than we do in SW Washington don't you Obadiah?

 

[Jesse]

I think that Seattle gets more rain than we do in SW Washington don't you Obadiah?

I thought up north near the water, around the Penisula (which is considered a rain forest correct?), gets more rain. I also thought Seattle and Portland received about the same,but I could be wrong about that.