16 October 2018

Timber!

For several days last week, the weather reports said we were having our last warm days of the year. The weather, they said, would turn rainy and chilly on Sunday. Then Sunday came, and it was still dry and almost hot. I think the rains passed to the north, falling not on northern France but on England. Typical, no? (We did get 3 mm of rain — 0.12 inches. On appelle ça du pipi de chat.)


Yesterday was again warm, and then it got windy in the afternoon. The wind was warm and dry, and it didn't really seem all that strong. It was just a little gusty and breezy. I was upstairs watching TV after lunch, and Walt was downstairs sitting out on the front terrace.


Suddenly there was a loud cracking sound. And then another. What was that? I called down to Walt. He had of course heard it too. I think a tree fell, he yelled back up the stairs. He said he'd go out and see if that was what had happened. When he came back, he told me about it and said I should go see it when I took Tasha out for our afternoon walk.


So there it is. A very big tree just broke off and crashed to the ground out on the edge of the vineyard parcel closest to our house. Maybe trees are fragile because of our long dry spell. It's amazing that it didn't really fall on anything. The top of the tree missed the closest row of vines by about 10 feet. This happened just a few dozen steps from our house.


It's hard to take photos of the wind, but you can sort of see it in the ones just above and below. Well, you can see its effects. How many more of these trees might just come crashing down one day?


I've seen trees being uprooted, but that was when winds were at hurricane force, back in North Carolina. I've seen trees uprooted here in Saint-Aignan by hurricane-force winds— we lost two plum trees in a storm in 2010, and several big trees fell out around the edges of the vineyard. And I've heard of trees just coming down for no obvious reason. That's what seems to have happened here yesterday.
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18 comments:

  1. elgee16 October, 2018 11:43

    I'm afraid most of the rain fell in Southern France :(( https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-16/flash-flooding-in-southern-france-worst-in-more-than-a-century/10380864

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    Replies
    1. Ken Broadhurst16 October, 2018 11:58

      The heavy rains, the flooding, and the deaths down around Carcassonne have been terrible. They often have heavy rains and flooding down on the Mediterranean coast. But I think the rain we were supposed to get moved north and blew across the British Isles.

      Delete
    2. elgee16 October, 2018 21:33

      I see what you mean, Ken, thanks! Yes, it was particularly bad this time in the Aude district. :(( I lived there for a while eons ago. I think we may have to get used to these extreme weather conditions though. Our summer (NL) has been and still is bizarre and, very high temps and hardly any rain - we had 26 degreesC (78Fahrenheit?) today - around 15 degrees (58F) would be normal. Hardly any rain since June. It's weird - and I find it worrying, too. (I'm having huge problems posting with my 'normal' name - don't know why - have a new laptop, maybe I need to change some things wrt Blogger).

      Delete
  2. Seine Judeet (Judith)16 October, 2018 13:02

    Yikes. That is always a big concern-- we have tons of big trees all around our house.

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    Replies
    1. Ken Broadhurst16 October, 2018 13:34

      Our storm winds seem to come from the south and southeast. We don't have any trees close to the house that are positioned to fall on us. Heureusement...

      Delete
  3. Thickethouse.wordpress17 October, 2018 00:46

    Very sad! You lose a tree perhaps because of a long dry spell and I've lost two (and a very large branch on another) because of our very long wet spell....
    (I'm thinking of the song that says, "child of a thief, child of a saint, Where is the child with no complaint".)

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  4. Emm17 October, 2018 04:07

    Have you heard any more info about conditions in and around Carcassonne? No news in the US, of course, and what little I could find looks terrible. Have not yet had any word from a couple of friends in the area. I imagine the power is out, hope it's no worse.
    That storm apparently was a hurricane that turned back east from the middle of the Atlantic.

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    Replies
    1. Ken Broadhurst17 October, 2018 05:24

      Here's an article with photos about the flooding around the Carcassonne area.

      Delete
    2. chm17 October, 2018 19:56

      Hi Emm,

      Here are some clips, all in French, from last Monday on France 2 at 8:00 AM:

      here, here, here,

      and 1:00 PM:

      here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
      I hope the links work for you.

      Delete
    3. chm17 October, 2018 21:39

      Hi Emm,

      Here are some clips, all in French, from last Monday on France 2 at 8:00 AM:

      here, here, here,

      and 1:00 PM:

      here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
      I hope the links work for you.

      Delete
    4. chm17 October, 2018 21:57

      I've been trying for times to post a comment with links to clips on the flooding in the Carcassonne area and it won't catch. What is wrong with Blogger?

      Here is one as a test:here.

      Delete
    5. chm17 October, 2018 21:59

      Hi Emm,

      Here are some clips, all in French, from last Monday on France 2 at 8:00 AM:

      here, here, here,

      and 1:00 PM:

      here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
      I hope the links work for you.

      Delete
    6. chm17 October, 2018 22:03

      I tried once again without success. Maybe there are too many links. I'll send them three at a time. Here it goes,

      Hi Emm,

      Here are some clips, all in French, from last Monday on France 2 at 8:00 AM:

      here, here, here.

      Delete
    7. chm17 October, 2018 22:07

      Three more

      and 1:00 PM:

      here,
      here,
      here,

      Delete
    8. chm17 October, 2018 22:08

      and the last seven, to see what happens

      here,
      here,
      here,
      here, here and here.
      I hope the links work for you.

      Delete
    9. chm17 October, 2018 22:12

      I think my original comment didn't catch because there were too many links

      Delete
    10. Ken Broadhurst18 October, 2018 12:01

      Thanks, CHM. All the links seem to work.

      Delete
  5. chm17 October, 2018 21:50

    Hi Emm,

    Here are some clips, all in French, from last Monday on France 2 at 8:00 AM:

    here, here, here,

    and 1:00 PM:

    here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
    I hope the links work for you.

    ReplyDelete

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