How bizarre was Sunday? The damage was as extensive as we’ve ever seen in Cincinnati as winds topped out at hurricane force. Here’s a sample of some of the winds we were able to verify:

Lebanon: 78 mph gust
Wilmington: 77 mph gust
Cincinnati/N. KY International Airport: 74 mph gust
Trenton: 75 mph gust
Downtown Cincinnati: 56 mph gust

Yes, those were strong gusts. But to say we saw hurricane conditions in Cincinnati is misleading. For a hurricane, winds have to be SUSTAINED at those levels. We only saw winds at those levels for short periods of time. As bad as it was, the winds here were nothing compared to what Texas saw. Could you imagine if they were?

The winds we experienced were not forecasted by anyone to my knowledge. We thought we might see gusts to 40, maybe to 50 at worst. And as you’ll recall, we had a lot more rain in the weekend forecast. So why the lack of rain and the resulting wind? Well, it had a lot to do with dry air wrapping in around the remnants of Ike. Those remnants manifested themselves as a strong area of low pressure. You can think of this low as a big hole in the ground. Nature doesn’t like things out of balance, so the hole is filled by blowing air into it. Air flows from high pressure, which was over the Carolinas, into the low pressure, which was over Indiana. We got caught up in-between. The higher the change in pressure from the low to the high, the stronger the winds. We call this change in pressure the “pressure gradient”. Something else was at work here too just as important. This wind event was largely unexpected. One of the reasons was the dry air that wrapped into Ike’s remnants. That dry air kept us from getting much rain (just 0.01 at the airport Sunday). But it also served to help “mix down” stronger winds aloft to the surface. Remember, winds are typically higher above the ground than they are at ground level. This dry air that came with Ike helped to mix those high winds aloft down to the surface resulting in the winds. If you look at areas well southwest of our region and well northeast of our region, they did not experience the high winds we had. Conditions came together perfectly over Cincinnati for these strong winds to develop.

Anyway, I couldn’t believe my eyes yesterday as I watched shingles and siding ripped from my neighbor’s homes. It started slowly, but then picked up with each additional tropical storm force and hurricane gust. I kept checking my roof and it was OK…until I saw one shingle fly away. After the first one, others followed. Then the point came when I had 3x3 foot sections of shingles being ripped from my home. I ended up losing 40-50% of the total shingles from my 8-year old roof. I also lost a patio umbrella. I was on the phone with my insurance company as the roof was being ripped apart. Not a fun sight. It took me back to my days covering hurricanes and tropical storms down south. I’d say 90% of the homes in my neighborhood had siding or shingles or both ripped away. We got hit hard. But at least we had power most the time. As I type this, hundreds of thousands of homes are still without power. Thankfully, the weather will not be hot – or wet. So hopefully we can get things cleaned up. If you cut down trees, do roofing or siding, or are a lineman, things will be busy! Be careful as you clean up.