Winds at 50 MPH

I like storms, especially during the night, right when I go to sleep. The pitter patter of the rain drops falling on the roof is a pleasant lullaby. However, I’m not really keen about the winds that sometimes come with storms. Yesterday in my area, there were wind gusts at supposedly 50 MPH. At least, that’s what Yahoo! Weather indicated.

Winds create a frightening sound, especially the eerie whistling of the air mixed with the thumping of branches knocking into each other and the bullet-noise of the rain as it slams onto the windows. Unlike the usual two minute gusts, this went on for ten, endless minutes. Oh yes, I was frightened as I went into my room and saw the tree next to my window threatening to topple over, its branches swaying ominously and edging closer to my room as each wind gust flew stronger than the next. My mother, the first thing she thought to do was yell for everyone to go into the center of the house. She told me, “You are not to go into your room! Stay in your sister’s room tonight!” That’s what I did; I wasn’t very into the whole idea of a tree crashing through the roof and trapping me on my bed in the middle of the night.

Today, as I came home from volunteering at my Chinese school, I saw that one of my neighbors had a crew of people on his lawn, cutting wood from a tree that had fell. In the beginning, I thought that he had just chopped down the tree, because it could be a threat to his safety. But no, then I saw that the tree had been uprooted and it was laying on its side, defeated.

My mother used that as evidence that we should cut down the trees on the side of our house. My father, on the other hand, replied, “Of course that tree fell down. It had shallow roots.” And then he explained to me how coniferous trees usually had shallow roots because it didn’t need as much water, whereas deciduous trees had longer roots. That makes sense, somewhat, but I’m not readily believing such an explanation until I find a confirmation on some website online. Since, a year ago, when another great storm had hit my area, a friend told me how a great big, maple tree (it may have been oak), was uprooted from the pavement near his house. Apparently, even though the tree was giant, its roots were pretty shallow.

Just take precautions the next time you hear winds knocking on your door. Huddle in the middle of your house, the corner farthest away from the nearby tree, or if you are really worried, camp out in your basement for the night.