Vanagon EuroVan
Previous messageNext messagePrevious in topicNext in topicPrevious by same authorNext by same authorPrevious page (August 2002, week 2)Back to main VANAGON pageJoin or leave VANAGON (or change settings)ReplyPost a new messageSearchProportional fontNon-proportional font
Date:         Mon, 12 Aug 2002 21:59:24 -0700
Reply-To:     Bill Gibson <bgibson@CYBERTRAILS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Bill Gibson <bgibson@CYBERTRAILS.COM>
Subject:      Re: Trip got interesting
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Ok, new info, even better answer: a big wall of air is more like a Haboob. I love that name. It still comes from a thunderstorm, or something like it, somewhere out there... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Gibson" <bgibson@CYBERTRAILS.COM> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Monday, August 12, 2002 9:45 PM Subject: Re: Trip got interesting

> That's a downburst; normal monsoon weather. One smashed up Sky Harbor > airport in Phoenix, and took the asphalt tiles off roofs in our neighborhood > a few weeks ago; they're still cleaning up. It's a lump of cold dense air > that may have been rain at some point, thousands of meters up there in the > clouds, but "evaporated" on the way down and fell on you! (Ours was full of > dust, too!) > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Bill N" <freeholder@STARBAND.NET> > To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> > Sent: Monday, August 12, 2002 12:44 PM > Subject: Trip got interesting > > > We were camping on Mt. Graham in SE Arizona this weekend when a very unusual > event occured. There were 9 of us sitting around the campfire around 4 in > the afternoon on Saturday. It was partly cloudy and calm. Within a 30 > second period it went from calm to winds I would estimate at 70+ MPH, and > there was no warning. We ran for our '81 Westy, and others ran for their > vehicles. We heard trees cracking all around us. > > Five minutes later, it was back to partly cloudy and calm. There was no > rain associated with this, and the whole thing lasted a very short time. We > hiked around taking stock and found that seven large ponderosa pines (2' or > larger trunk) had blown down within 100' or our campfire, taking several > smaller trees with them. > > Although the poptop was up, and the sliding door was open the whole time, > the van had no problems. The wind direction was from the rear, which I'm > sure helped. > > Any weather experts out there have any idea what causes this sort of thing? > I am told by neighbors that a similar wall of wind blew through my home area > (about 40 miles away) that same afternoon. > > Bill in the Southwest >


Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main VANAGON page

Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!


Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com


The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.

Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.