Christmas Bells

Christmas Bells
Christmas Bells - Blandfordia nobilis

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Winds are shredding Robertson

Wattle Tree being
blown by the wind.
It has been windy in Robertson, off and on (mostly on) for two weeks. However, in the last 36 hours the winds have been howling here.

My little house is on a hill, and that hill is a ridge, about 3 Kms inland from the escarpment, and about 200 metres higher than the edge of the escarpment. This ridge acts like the wing of an aeroplane, forcing the air to rush over the edge, to get to the low pressure on the other side. In other words, ridges create their own wind, or at least cause wind to accelerate over the edge.


Base of tree, snapped
I have always known this place to be windy, but this is a hurting wind.
A loud howling wind.
A wind which snaps trees in half.







Tree branch lying
on the ground

This Fern-leafed Wattle - a Green Wattle, I think, (Acacia mearnsii), was always intended to be a short-lived tree, a "nurse tree" as they are referred to. However, I was not quite expecting it to simply snap in half, like this. Still, it has done much of its job, allowing other more delicate plants to start establishing themselves in the wind-break created by this tree.
Moongate with rainbow
over house.
This morning, despite the wind, there was a brief sun-shower, which produced a low rainbow, which was posed over the ridge of my house, when viewed through the Moongate.

This nice symbolic atmospheric trick cheered me up, despite the howling wind all about.

3 comments:

mike macgirvin said...

The reports last night have the worst of it happening today (5/7). Hang on...

We're in a similar spot, but below the ridge crest. I can only imagine what it's like on the top.

Denis Wilson said...

Hi Mike

If you see a blue Terry-Towelling hat flying past, it would be mine.

I am staying indoors, and hoping the power does not go out.

Thanks

Denis

Anonymous said...

Our eucalypt on the backyard has also pretty much split in two... not sure what to do about it now. This is a bit sad because Andy planted that tree and it had grown to be quite a pretty little - no, big! - tree!