One of the characteristics of fall weather in the Robson Valley are the strong winds that we get. Big storm systems form in the Pacific west of British Columbia, and pummel the coast of the Province. Those of us that live in the Robson Valley, which is 400 miles (650 kms) from the coast as the crow flies, are far away from those storms, but we still often receive strong winds that are generated by them. The winds we get roar through the trees causing a friend of mine to start dubbing them the “Train Winds” because of their loud roar.
One morning during one of those strong winds storms in November of 2010, I heard a “whoosh” outside, but I put it down to another strong gust of wind, so didn’t give it a second thought. That afternoon, we decided to drive into town for some supplies. We walked across the driveway to the lanai, and got into the truck. I then got out and walked to the rear of the truck to clean the back window of the canopy. It was then that I noticed something awry out of the corner of my eye, and looked over toward the barn.
I was gobsmacked by what I saw. The huge spruce tree that stood beside the barn, was standing no more; instead, it was laying across the top of the barn. Obviously, the strong winds had blown the tree over, but I was surprised, because despite my years of experience working as a timber cruiser, inspecting standing trees looking for indications of rot; I had never noticed any such indicators of rot on the big spruce. It always looked very healthy to me, but after its fall, I saw that the inside of its trunk was full of rot.
The damage done by the fallen tree, and later the further collapse of the barn roof which was caused by the heavy accumulation of snow that winter, took me two years to rebuild.
It was an extraordinary event that I think about each fall when I hear the loud roar of the “Train Winds” buffeting everything outside.
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