Monday, February 11, 2008

Wind, cold, brush fires in Shenandoah Valley....

Awakened this morning to 8 degrees outside and -- finally -- the winds that had begun Friday night had died down. Yesterday they howled late into the night as the power continued to blink on and off -- thankfully, we did not lose it completely -- and the temperature plummeted.

Wind guests of 45 mph were reported throughout the area as weakened tree limbs from last week's ice storm fell across power lines causing outages and sparking fires that kept fire crews busy.

A brush fire started by downed power lines in the Stuarts Draft area of Augusta County burned 25 acres before it was brought under control by fire fighters. Most of the 90 fires were kept to under an acre.

The extremely powerful winds tore off roof shingles, blew away garbage cans, knocked down a billboard, and toppled a tree onto at least one vehicle in the area. According to the News Virginian, arching power lines set hay bales on fire and traffic lights were knocked out in some areas.

At Noon Monday the sun is shining, the wind has died away, and it is a brisk we degrees.

It's winter in the Valley....

More information at Waynesboro News Virginian.

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