White Squall
Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 1:56 pm
Was up in Tahoe last Friday and toured the Thunderbird Lodge. While the lodge was interesting for it's history and location on the shore of the Nevada side of the lake, an unbelievable windstorm completely diverted my attention from the tour.
The only way I can understand it is to think that there were these rolling horizontal cylinders of northeast winds rolling off the ridges and descending down to the lake. They accelerated around a point just north of this lodge, creating a venturi effect.
The result was a constant parade of isolated gusts going up to what I guess must have been 60-70 mph. It was blowing zero to 70, and when the gusts hit, they arrived like a hammer that could blow you off your feet. Out on the water, you could see white squalls making their way across the lake and forming waterspouts. Every once in awhile, the frothing mass (right next to completely glassy water) would completely reverse itself and blow 180 degrees for about 100 yards before reverting to normal flow.
It was the most amazing wind show I've ever seen. The docents at the Lodge claimed they'd never seen anything like it and they'd been there for about 30 years. I've seen a lot of wind, but I've never seen glassy water next to 70 mph gusts, and especially gusts that would roll back over on themselves and reverse directions. It made me imagine how a boat caught in that situation could be hit by a reverse wind while still keeled over from the gust on the other side and pulled under.....the wind would circulate back on itself from the top down and concentrate the reverse gust at the surface level of the lake.
The really weird thing is that these microbursts (if that's what they were) weren't documented on wind observations by NOAA or ikite that I could find for Nov 22nd, although there were warnings for hurricane force winds at elevation.
All I know is that if I'd had even a 1m kite, it would have luffed in the lulls and absolutely kicked the shit out of me in the gusts. Hell, I'd have ejected if I was holding up a paper airplane. It was hard enough just to stand up. I was with a group of about 50 people, and it was amazing how few of them appreciated what a spectacular and unusual event were witnessing. I think they all considered me a little nutty to be impressed by the wind so much, but the sight of those completely self contained white frothing writhing gusts was like nothing I've ever seen anywhere anyplace.
Really beautiful. Trying to see if anybody got any good footage and will post......
The only way I can understand it is to think that there were these rolling horizontal cylinders of northeast winds rolling off the ridges and descending down to the lake. They accelerated around a point just north of this lodge, creating a venturi effect.
The result was a constant parade of isolated gusts going up to what I guess must have been 60-70 mph. It was blowing zero to 70, and when the gusts hit, they arrived like a hammer that could blow you off your feet. Out on the water, you could see white squalls making their way across the lake and forming waterspouts. Every once in awhile, the frothing mass (right next to completely glassy water) would completely reverse itself and blow 180 degrees for about 100 yards before reverting to normal flow.
It was the most amazing wind show I've ever seen. The docents at the Lodge claimed they'd never seen anything like it and they'd been there for about 30 years. I've seen a lot of wind, but I've never seen glassy water next to 70 mph gusts, and especially gusts that would roll back over on themselves and reverse directions. It made me imagine how a boat caught in that situation could be hit by a reverse wind while still keeled over from the gust on the other side and pulled under.....the wind would circulate back on itself from the top down and concentrate the reverse gust at the surface level of the lake.
The really weird thing is that these microbursts (if that's what they were) weren't documented on wind observations by NOAA or ikite that I could find for Nov 22nd, although there were warnings for hurricane force winds at elevation.
All I know is that if I'd had even a 1m kite, it would have luffed in the lulls and absolutely kicked the shit out of me in the gusts. Hell, I'd have ejected if I was holding up a paper airplane. It was hard enough just to stand up. I was with a group of about 50 people, and it was amazing how few of them appreciated what a spectacular and unusual event were witnessing. I think they all considered me a little nutty to be impressed by the wind so much, but the sight of those completely self contained white frothing writhing gusts was like nothing I've ever seen anywhere anyplace.
Really beautiful. Trying to see if anybody got any good footage and will post......