Downslope Wind Event
The Owens Valley is notorious for strong winds which are evident in the formation of the ‘Bishop Wave’ that regularly adorn the skies around here. These mountain wave clouds or ‘Foehn waves’ as they are called in other parts of the world are quite often used by sailplane pilots to set long distance speed records. Another wind phenomenon around here is the ‘downslope wind event’ which occurs when strong winds accelerate down the steep Eastern slopes of the Sierra. In general, weather forecasters can only predict that all the ingredients for such an event is in place but not if it is going to happen or not. As such, there have been numerous occasions during my visits to the Owens where a wind event was threatening to develop but just regular storm gusts of about 40 mph would materialize. Last week my luck ran out and a Downslope Wind Event terrorized us with the strongest gusts I have ever experienced inside the RV. During the height of the storm (somewhere around 2 am) it was gusting to over 65 mph. While still well below the sustained wind speed of a Category 1 Hurricane (74-95 mph) it was at the high end of a tropical storm (39-73 mph). I had to take down the satellite dish, secure everything and pull in the slide to minimize our wind profile. Even so, the RV was shaking enough to make most loose items fly of the shelves and to tip over Bambino (the giraffe). Luckily we survived without any damage which makes me much happier to continue camping in the Buttermilks below the big mountains. During April we moved from Lone Pine to Independence to Bishop and kept busy with mountain biking, climbing in the Owens Gorge and backcountry skiing up Mt. Lamarck.
Ahh Man…you guys did Lamarck….I think I recognize that valley where Butch and I almost wrote our last will and testament. Imagine we didn’t make it off that mountain? You would of found a frozen china man with his hands around a frozen polish man’s neck.