The Brookston Storm

A big storm came through at midnight Wednesday night/Thursday morning with 100 mph winds. Believe it or not, I slept through it all, but Craig was up and thought we might be having a tornado. He said our home actually shook, and that he heard popping noises on the second floor. He also said it sounded as though we were losing siding off the east end of the house.

Miraculously, aside from overturned patio furniture, our home was unscathed.

Bookston, a little to the north of us, was not so lucky.

News reports said it and Buck Creek were without power, but that Brookston had had so much damage, state roads 43 and 18 were closed due to downed trees and power lines. I drove up at noon to check the orchard property and see if we had sustained any damage there.

Because 43 was closed, I had to turn onto S 200 E and go the back way to the orchard.

The silos at S 200 E and E 1250 S had been damaged. (My sister Jenny, for unknown reasons, called these silos "cantaloupes" as a child!)

 Two had been pushed to the side...

 ... and another completely shoved off its pad and crumpled.

Crops had sustained wind damage, too. Field after field had corn all leaning toward the east.

The woods my mother owns were in good shape, although I could see at least one tree had been snapped off at the top.

 The northern edge of her property is at the corner of S 200 E and E 1100 S.

Some of the old apple trees are still there and had sustained some damage.

It is hard to tell, but these are apple trees that have been toppled in the north end.

Surprisingly, despite the massive tree damage, the houses I saw had very little damage, even those surrounded by trees that had been destroyed. There was rotation documented over the area, but my guess is that this was not a tornado - it was either a macroburst, derecho, or straight line winds.

The National Weather Service will be out today and giving its opinion later. I am interested in hearing what they have to say about the storm.

Update at 9:00 PM: The National Weather Service has deemed the storm to have been straight line winds and not a tornado.