OT: Holy crap, it's windy outside!

Submitted by The Mad Hatter on

There are currently 350K customers without power in SE Michigan.  Amazingly, I'm not one of them, although my son's school has no power.  Apparently the kids are having a great time "learning" without power.  Hopefully LSA is working overtime to get everything sorted out.

Any damage in your neighborhood?  Are you posting in the dark from your phone that's about to die? 

Ty Butterfield

March 8th, 2017 at 1:38 PM ^

Still have power in Kalamazoo but I think there are other parts of town that could be without power. Lucky so far. Maybe it is the End of Days? Fine by me.

Prince Lover

March 8th, 2017 at 1:41 PM ^

Daughter had a half day and my work lost power while our house is fine. After I'm done with dinner in croc pot, we're going to go play with our dogs in the wind. I bet I can throw my boy's frisbee farther than he can run fornit today....in the one direction of course....

True Blue Grit

March 8th, 2017 at 2:58 PM ^

I've already found one piece of shingling and I'm praying more don't come off.  My roof is too high for me to easily get up there without killing myself.  This is the windiest day in Ann Arbor I've seen in quite a long time.  

ndscott50

March 8th, 2017 at 4:07 PM ^

If that’s the case you may get a new roof for the cost of your insurance deductible.  My roof is starting to get old and I am rooting for a good hail storm in the next few years.    

StephenRKass

March 8th, 2017 at 1:42 PM ^

It's windy all over. 35 mph right now in metro Chicago, with gusts up to 55 mph. Spoke with someone in St. Paul MN an hour ago,  windy there as well. However, not nearly as many with power outages . . . only about 20k.

The Maizer

March 8th, 2017 at 2:00 PM ^

I work in a UM building that's supposed to have full backup generator capability as well and the power has flickered here several times. Lab equipment getting wrecked. Maybe it's the power surges rather than lack of power? Not an electrical engineer so I won't speculate further.

Zoltanrules

March 8th, 2017 at 2:29 PM ^

Computers that never go out have been flickering on and off. My wife works in an area where they do critical surgeries and none are being done today.

You didn't ask about my neighbor's recycling items though. Some of these nitwits don't even wash out their recycled food containers and then it blows in my yard. I need to start an OCD thread...

stephenrjking

March 8th, 2017 at 3:13 PM ^

They have generators. The generators aren't supposed to keep every lightbulb in a hospital lit; they maintain crucial equipment, of which there is a lot. And they have to be started up. 

Trauma patients will get taken care of. Elective surgeries can be delayed.

mgoblue0970

March 8th, 2017 at 6:42 PM ^

AND generally modern standby systems have a conditioning component so there aren't any surges, flickering, etc.  But like you said, it's UM.

m_go_T

March 8th, 2017 at 2:04 PM ^

That may not be why they call it Windy City.  Allegedly the term was coined during the World Fair, due to the "wind" blowing by Chicago residents about how Chicago is the best city.  This may or may not be an urban legend though.

 

robpollard

March 8th, 2017 at 4:26 PM ^

"Chicago switched from the Garden City to the Windy City in 1886, several years before Dana's comment (at the World's Fair about the politicians). The earliest citation was from the Louisville Courier-Journal in early January, 1886, when it was used in reference to the wind off Lake Michigan. In other words, the average mope was right all along! "

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/244/why-cant-cecil-get-his-fac…

nerv

March 8th, 2017 at 1:46 PM ^

I have power still but there is a downed line in front of my place sparking and burning the hell out of the cement. Unsurprisingly anything DTE is not working right now.