Yesterday, the wind blew from the southwest and the temperatures "soared into the upper 30's. Hunkered down on the north side of the mountain a few hundred feet from the crest, we were protected from the wind but could hear it in the tree tops. A strong front moved through early this morning and ahead of it we got enough rain to remove all snow from the lawn and woods about the Aerie. Then, as it swept past, we got a brief moment of sleet in the form of little white pellets almost like hail. That is now gone but the temperatures are falling off the edge of the table and the wind, which has shifted and now comes from the northwest, is gusting up past the 35 mph mark. Located on the northwest side of the hill we are, therefore, totally exposed to the onslaught of the winds. You can hear it whistling in the eaves of the Aerie and occasionally there's a creak of the log walls being buffeted by the winds. At times it sounds like a train rushing past. Surprisingly there have been no power outages.
Here's the severe weather alert posted on Weather.com:
A STRONG COLD FRONT CROSSING THE REGION EARLY TODAY WILL BE FOLLOWED BY SUSTAINED WESTERLY WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH THROUGH MUCH OF THE DAY. OCCASIONAL GUSTS UP TO 60 MPH ARE LIKELY...ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE HIGHEST ELEVATIONS. WINDS WILL GRADUALLY SUBSIDE BY TONIGHT AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS INTO THE REGION.
What it doesn't say is the high pressure will also bring very much lower temperatures. The forecast low for tonight is 11 degrees and we'll be lower than that at the Aerie.
Watching the hanging bird feeders swing and sway in the wind there's no mystery as to why the birds are choosing to feed on the fixed trays or even the ground. They probably don't have enough Dramamine to spend more than a few seconds on the tossing hanging feeders.
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