A Sea Of Red

In light of that camp tragedy, let me ask some of the locals. Are all these summertime wind storms the norm for Lynchburg?

It seems like they've been really bad in the last several years. Maybe it's that I just never noticed them before I became a homeowner, but I don't remember this happening 10-15 years ago. I know there's been some bad storms and flooding, but the wind in particular has gotten pretty severe, including the derecho(s).

I'm not from this area, started going to LU in 96, lived here full-time after that, so I don't know what it was like pre-2000. Has this always been normal?

June 1993...there was a derecho then, except they just called it a "windstorm." We got the remnants of hurricanes Bertha and Fran in 1996. Other than that, don't remember anything out of the ordinary.

I don't know about Lynchburg's weather, but the camp is in Carroll County which is relatively flat and rural, and it usually gets hit pretty hard once maybe twice a year.

ATrain beat me to the June 1993 storm. We had just moved into our new house 4 days prior and ended up needing all our roof shingles replaced. Also, April 2002 a tornado came through, bouncing over our house and leaving a mobile home and some houses 1/4 mile away in pieces. However I don't think it has been abnormally bad. I always bring it up in the climate change discussions we have at work that we are limited to weather history being what we have known in our lifetime. Many people think if we have a terrible storm that it was the worst ever. But there may have been hundreds of storms far worse over the course of the last thousands of years.

ATrain wrote:June 1993...there was a derecho then, except they just called it a "windstorm."

That't the one that destroyed the tennis courts, right?

News travels fast, and I think ATrain is correct, what we used to call a windstorm has a different meaning. Like "derecho". We will likely get hit by a derecho again at some point (average is every two years), but the worst one we've ever had will forever be burned into our memories for an entire generation.

alabama24 wrote:

ATrain wrote:June 1993...there was a derecho then, except they just called it a "windstorm."

That't the one that destroyed the tennis courts, right?

I have no idea...I was 7 when it hit

ATrain wrote:

alabama24 wrote:

ATrain wrote:June 1993...there was a derecho then, except they just called it a "windstorm."

That't the one that destroyed the tennis courts, right?

I have no idea...I was 7 when it hit

Did you just remember from your childhood then?

I visited the campus in the summer of 1993, and came as a freshman in 1994. If I remember right, a big storm had come through before we visited causing some damage.

Yep, I remember that one from my childhood. First the power wind out, then the wind started blowing really hard and we were all in the living room. A tree fell in the road and a truck flipped over trying to avoid it and dad ran out to help while mom moved my sister, her friend and I into the bathroom. It was in June 1993.

Well, I'm not really concerned with the extreme weather events, but moreso it seems like for the past several years, during the summer we get a few really bad wind storms that blow through and knock a bunch of trees down all over the place. And it's been consistent every year. I'm just wondering if it's always been that way.

We've been in our house 6 1/2 years. The 4 1/2 years before that we lost power maybe 3 times, not including 30 glitches. Since the derecho two years ago, we lost it 5 times, one for a week and the other times for 6 plus hours. Usually we had power when everyone else lost theirs but something is different now.

flamerbob wrote:We've been in our house 6 1/2 years. The 4 1/2 years before that we lost power maybe 3 times, not including 30 glitches. Since the derecho two years ago, we lost it 5 times, one for a week and the other times for 6 plus hours. Usually we had power when everyone else lost theirs but something is different now.

That is true for us as well. Since the '02 tornado, we did not lose power more than 3-4 times over the next 8-9 years and never for more than 30-minutes-1hour. In the last couple of years we have had it go out 6-7 times with a couple for several hours. This started after AEP switched lines to another substation. I think that has something to do with it. However, we were one of the lucky few who didn't lose it during the derecho.

Same thing for us, ever since AEP upgraded our substation the power has actually gone out more, even during routine storms.