The howling: Better now than later
Some tree damage reported, but timing could have been far worse.
This has been one impressive spell of wind, the fallout from a storm that exploded off the Gulf of Maine whiting out portions of northern New England in blizzard conditions.
Just before midnight Sunday, powerful backlash winds roared into the region and stayed throughout the day Monday with a gust pushing past 50 mph at noon at Philadelphia International Airport, and a gale-force gust – 37 mp.h – reported at 4 p.m.
The National Weather Service has posted scattered reports of downed trees – including one that crashed into a house, and PECO logged a total of 30,000 outages throughout the day.
But to put that in some perspective, Superstorm Sandy was blamed for over a million outages, and the snow-and-ice storm of 2014, over 800,000.
Those numbers had a whole lot to do with the trees.
This time around, despite the strength and duration of the winds, for the most part the region's tree population evidently has weathered the storm.
For a straight-up n all-out wind assault such as this one, February is far preferable to the spring, summer, or fall leafy seasons, says Mike Karkowski, director of horticulture at the Tyler Arboretum, in Delaware County.
Bare branches have far less weight to carry than those filled with leaves, and the wind can whistle right through them.
In this case, the winds were from the northwest, and trees are quite used to breezes from that direction, as opposed to winds from the east – what the utility trade calls a "counter wind."
The site of a swaying tree might be a frightening one, but it actually should be a reassuring one, Karkowski said. "You want a tree to have movement."
As for the uprooting potential, the soil around here might be wet, but hardly at the saturation point that can endanger root systems.
And, of course, the trees right now have no snow or ice issues to contend with.
Karkowski said that it is likely that any tree that has an issue with Monday's wind siege would be a white pine ("If a bird lands on them they could drop branches"); an unhealthy tree, or one planted in a root-challenged environment, such as near a sidewalk or street.
Only about 4,000 customers remained were without power as of 5 p.m., said PECO spokeswoman Liz Williamson, and the strong winds are due to sign off after dark.