Manchaug Pond was not hard hit – very little rain here with other towns getting downpours and suffering loss of electricity from downed trees and limbs and lightening strikes from the thunderstorm which rolled in during the night. Don S. of Area 5 reported in on Wednesday with an exact reading from his wind gauge that we had hit 39.5 mph at midnight as the storm blasted by. That registers us as an 8 on the Beaufort Scale – a “Fresh Gale!” Further, Don explained that the wind speed during the day on the lake is about 12 mph and the most he has seen at his home in Paxton is 22.5 mph. The storm brought us up to 39.5 with very little rain and some lightening. Check out the Beaufort Scale yourself. It even lists the type of damage you can expect at the various wind speeds. For example 55 mph would up root trees and cause “considerable structural damage.”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale The uprooted tree pictured is seen near Camp Blanchard and is from a previous storm. It’s shallow root system on the rocky shore is very visible. Don’t forget the Spring Social at Camp Blanchard tomorrow morning!
