# A Windy Day



## stevohut (Apr 15, 2010)

I know this might sound like a dumbass question but how windy is to windy to be cutting down trees in the bush? How much influence does wind have on a falling tree?


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## treesquirrel (Apr 15, 2010)

I won't work in very windy conditions. Its just too risky and I am not suicidal.


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## tree md (Apr 16, 2010)

Here in Oklahoma the wind blows all the friken time. You just have to learn to adapt and deal with it. On an average day I have to work in 10-20 MPH winds. Once it gets 25-30 it becomes a ##### to work in and I'll try to beg off if I can. 40 MPH winds can really affect trees. Weakened limbs and even whole trees can come over as impairments are compounded by the wind. The added weight of a human being could exacerbate and stress an already weakened tree IMO. 

Working in the wind is just plain harder work. You have to fight the wind for balance and will often have to rope limbs that you would not normally have to to keep them from sailing off into the house or what have you. Working in the wind just plain sucks sometimes.

Anyway, to answer your question, about 25-30 MPH is my limit. And then only if I have to.


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## ddhlakebound (Apr 16, 2010)

stevohut said:


> How much influence does wind have on a falling tree?



Is that kinda like asking how much influence the wind has on a sailboat sail?

Alot.


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## mattfr12 (Apr 16, 2010)

i freaking hate it drop a limb from 60 feet and it can move like 30 feet left or right before it hits the ground. then everything has to come down on a rope and slows the process down. or if your trying to hold on to a limb you cut it wears your arms out trying to fight a limb in the wind. if its to windy i dont work ive gond up a tree before and just decided to come back the next day after taking like 2 limbs off because the wind affected it so much.


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## rarefish383 (Apr 16, 2010)

I think it was Hurricane Agnes that my Dad rode a big Oak down. They were trying to get it anchored to the bases of other trees and didn't make it. He said the crown was so big that it hit the ground before the trunk was 45 degrees. He was working on the up wind side and said it more or less eased over. he said his biggest fear was if it started to roll after it hit the ground, before he could untie, but all went well, just made a good story for the grand kids, Joe.


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## jefflovstrom (Apr 16, 2010)

Depends on the job. When we worked the Edison Barkbeetle Project in Lake Arrowhead, we had a 20mph limit.
Jeff


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## treemandan (Apr 16, 2010)

Wind makes it funner


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## jefflovstrom (Apr 16, 2010)

No such word as " funner ". 
Jeff


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## treemandan (Apr 16, 2010)

jefflovstrom said:


> No such word as " funner ".
> Jeff



Yes, yer rite, proper grammer would be " more funner"

But can you argue the fact that wind makes it more funner? I love it. I usually tend not to do things as I would if it were calm. Like I stay out of the woods, do smaller stuff, prune jobs, put it all on a rope... BUT I LOVE THAT BREEZE! 30 - 40 mph doesn't bother me though it does depend on what the job entails.
One time I worked with this company:
I said, " its real windy, get me a pull rope!" They said just to notch it out anyway and it landed on the roof. 
The next time they did get me the rope but it landed on the roof anyway.What a bunch of retards and there is nothing more funner than that. Wind and retards, what a mix.
But I don't mind the wind, I just acommadate it. That last poplar I just topped ( see thread, ' I told her we were through') the guy was telling me just to bomb but it was kinda windy so I went and put a rope in most of it. I think he was getting a little impatient actually. The guy ended up pulling the wires off the house with a piece he threw out of a sugar maple... that was pretty funnyer.


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## jefflovstrom (Apr 16, 2010)

Yeah, Great story, but anyway!
Jeff


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## boutselis (Apr 17, 2010)

I was clearing my one acre lot of 20+ pine trees of various sizes. a few were around 60' high but real thin. I had one that was leaning southward, the wind was blowing northward at about 20 to 40 mph depending on gusts. On a calm day this tree would have fallen like it had laser guidance due south.

I started back cutting, and kept going till I noticed I was almost all the way through. I walked backwards, looking up in amazement, as the wind and gravity fought one another. seemed like more than a minute of the tree starting to fall and then straightening up over and over. a gust came along and finally blew it north.

I had a feeling it could happen, didn't really think it would happen. I was in the middle of an acre with nothing to ruin so I figured I didn't have much to loose. it was fun to watch



When I first started my lawn business I was trimming a washingtonia palm that was about 20' high. for those who don't know they have these barbs that look a little like small sharks teeth. some are kinda curved like hooks. It was a windy day and the wind started picking up as i was finishing this one tree. 
one of the barbs caught me in the palm and hung there in the wind pulling on my hand like a fish hook on a kite. My right hand was holding on to my saw and the latter, afraid to let go (no belt), my left arm was partially wrapped around the tree trying to keep myself and the ladder from being pulled over and my hand was at the mercy of that damn palm limb. 

It was one of the most painful times in my life and I've had my share of stitches.

I don't even like mowing in a heavy wing. ever get a grass blade in your eye.


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## treeclimber101 (Apr 17, 2010)

The wind add a certain spice to the day ,like when I threw down a small branch and it got caught by a gust a blew across three phase and shut down about 300 houses a police station and 4 traffic lights , otherwise the branch would have landed at least 30 ft. away from the wires .. So that day I think it may have been a little too windy for work ... But otherwise I just try to keep it at my back so the chips don't blow in my face , That sucks ...


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## treemandan (Apr 17, 2010)

treeclimber101 said:


> The wind add a certain spice to the day ,like when I threw down a small branch and it got caught by a gust a blew across three phase and shut down about 300 houses a police station and 4 traffic lights , otherwise the branch would have landed at least 30 ft. away from the wires .. So that day I think it may have been a little too windy for work ... But otherwise I just try to keep it at my back so the chips don't blow in my face , That sucks ...



Then what happened? I mean were you charged any money to rectify the situation or anything?


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## treeclimber101 (Apr 19, 2010)

treemandan said:


> Then what happened? I mean were you charged any money to rectify the situation or anything?


Yea about 1000.00 for my deductible and a small fine 300.00 for police to run traffic at the lights for an hr. or so nothing from PSEG or the state because I flashed My EHAP card and they were satisfied . There was damage to some property meaning blown microwaves and such but not much but enough that I had to run a claim ....


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## treeslayer (Apr 21, 2010)

jefflovstrom said:


> Depends on the job. When we worked the Edison Barkbeetle Project in Lake Arrowhead, we had a 20mph limit.
> Jeff



when was that, '57?


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## PaulPollard (Apr 23, 2010)

I was doing wind storm damage a few years ago - during the storm. It was plenty exciting all right but now being older and wiser I would never take part in something like that again.

The first storm damage call was a 70 foot co-dominant cypress with one stem down on the front yard. We were sent over assuming the homeowner wanted the other stem down right away but they declined and we just did a quick cleanup of the yard keeping one eye on the very unstable looking standing stem swirling around in the wind. Sure enough we heard it came down about an hour after we left taking out the streets hydro service. Looking back we shouldn't have been anywhere near that thing at the time.

That same day we were sent to take down some medium sized cedars and hemlocks that were leaning badly over a house, the root plates were coming up on some of them because of the storm. We couldn't get the bucket in so the guy I was with climbed the sturdiest looking one and started stripping it. By the time he got about 40 feet up everything had to be rigged because the branches were drifting hundreds of feet through the air landing in other yards, hanging up in other trees...it was a joke really.

I've never seen an experienced climber look like such a frightened animal in my life. He was actually clinging to the tree at one point cursing and swearing like only a tree worker can. Ah, good times but stupid times too.

The simple fact of the matter is that the tree service I was working for at the time charged a premium for storm damage and were taking every call they got - at $250/hour and having us grunts do this crazy work for $20/hour. It can be exciting being in a tree on a windy day to a point, but then it can also become outright terror.

You can also get your feet and hands pinched in crotches to the point of broken bones while working on something like a Lombardi Poplar in the wind.


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## BlueRidgeMark (Apr 23, 2010)

treemandan said:


> Yes, yer rite, proper grammer would be " more funner"
> .





There ya go. Glad we got that straight.


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