Big Wind in Montana

Friday night we had a wind event in Red Lodge.  Winds gusted over 70 miles an hour and there was damage all over town, and a little up at the new house.  I don't think many people got much sleep on Friday night, because of the howling and rattling.  There were whitecaps in the commode from the downdraft on the plumbing vents.  The other remarkable weather news is that the temperatures have been in the 50's, which is unheard of in February in Montana.

A tree came down on this house which is just a block and a half away from our rental on Broadway.  John, our contractor, had a big glass window at his house in Tipi Village get blown out.  Fortunately it sucked the window out of the house and broke on the deck, rather than inside the house.

The headgate at Happy Valley, a mile up the West Fork Canyon from the house, blew down.  Our contractor has been renovating this log cabin for a family from Texas and we toured it a couple of weeks ago to look at the wood and tile floors.

                                                                     





We lost some of the soffit under the roof and shingles in several places were flapping in the wind.  We will have to check for cracks in those shingles, once the crew comes back next week.  We imagined lots of damage and were very lucky it was not worse.