If the answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind, someone’s been asking a lot of questions

Today was day 2 of winds so hard that you’d be tempted to look for a tornado complete with Kansas farmhouse, wicked witch, Dorothy and Toto. Though the temptation quickly disappears when you realize that looking up, much less around, means your face gets pummeled by ice crystals and Lord knows what else. Oh, that and you’ll probably get blown over. Literally.

It’s been difficult to get around this week. First there was the ice. It gets warm enough now during the day for some of the snow to melt. Unfortunately, none of the meltwater can drain anywhere. This results in sizeable ponds that seem to be sprouting up all over town. These ponds freeze over as the temperatures cool at night. Lots of frozen footprints around town. This ice is ridiculously slippery. It has also been snowing every day, so the snow that melted away the day before is quickly replaced. Normally the snow helps provide a bit of traction on the ice, but not this time. Bearing all this in mind, enter the wind.

This is no warm summer sea breeze. This is a, “Hey, I just blew down from Siberia and I feel like fighting” breeze. How fast is it? I’m not sure, though I saw another volunteer reporting 80 mph winds at her site. It’s pretty stout, though. Something that makes it even more interesting is the way the town is laid out. The apartment buildings create lots of right angles and narrow corridors that do crazy things to the wind. Think funneling and redirecting in bad ways.

As I was leaving for work this morning I was being pushed all around the ice by the wind. It was tough going because I couldn’t get enough traction to keep from totally being moved around by the wind. As I got to the end of the building the wind picked up. It was also coming from three different directions – straight off the steppe and around each side of the building. The ice got more slippery and a couple of cross drafts put me right on my butt. It was an exciting start to the day.

Coming home this afternoon I found myself several times holding on to stationary objects to remain upright and on my intended path. I also was leaning into the wind at at least a 45 degree angle to keep from being pushed backwards or knocked over. The closer I got to my apartment, the worse it got. My theory is that because my apartment building is the first one on this edge of town. There’s not much of anything to break up the wind, so we get the full brunt of it.

Oddly enough, it reminded me of diving in the Keys and the Bahamas. When you’re reef diving and there’s any sort of swell or current the only way to get around efficiently is to kick when the swell is at your back and to stop kicking when it reverses direction. I usually watch the soft coral to see when it’s best to start and stop my kicks. Today when the wind was coming at me from the front I had to stop walking to keep from getting knocked over. When it was at my back I had to do a sure-footed trot to keep from being thrown onto my face!

All things considered, I think I’d prefer diving to the gale force winds.