A Real Hair-Club for Men "Test Day"

(Sunday, 26Oct08) People some times ask me about this area being called the "Windy City" and it's really true we almost never have the absence of wind in our area. However, if you want to REALLY see what it's like, watch the web cam today (Sunday) and see!! We have wind gusts to 50 mph today and I already have one recorded to 21.2 mph at my backyard weather station!! So, it's a windy day! Watch our neighbor's Bears flag(oops - he just took it down but I captured it on video so watch my blog for this soon) and trees across the street blow in the wind. Also, watch the debris go down the street ! Wow!

Yup - it is really a windy day today! They forecast gusts to as much as 50 mph today so when we got out of the car to go into the restaurant after Church this morning, it didn't suprise us that we almost blew sideways! Also, it didn't surprise us when we got out of the car at home that we had to lean into the wind to make it to the garage. This is a fairly typical fall day and one of the reasons the "colors" do not last long around here. No sooner have the trees started to change to their beautiful colors when a wind front like this one comes through and strips all those delicate colorful blooms off the trees and sends them flying down the street toward some unknown destination on the east side of town. Some guy must really have a colorful yard (and a lot of work ahead of him)! Well, here's a short video of my neighbor's yard during today's gusts. Just look at the trees in his yard blow like crazy. You can also see a few things go by at high speed down the street. If you watch closely, you'll see that as he had just finished mowing his yard, he gave up on keeping his Bears flag sailing in the wind and took it down. That was a smart move since this kind of wind can go all day and frequently loosens the anchor bolts in your mortar attaching your flag holder to your house! Let' watch....



If you watched closely, you saw my neighbor come out of his garage and take down his Bears flag to prevent it from removing itself!

One of my more amusing co-workers years ago when we were headed out to lunch from work and the wind was blowing us horizontal like today commented - "man, it's a real Hair Club for Men test day today!" I thought that was really funny. It brought up images of what kind of wind a person with such a hair piece could reasonably expect to survive and what mph rating might prove catastrophic to their coiffure and the fact that today's wind would serve as an excellent "test day". Funny stuff.

Anyway, this is Chicagoland at its finest - winds that practically take your breath away, dishevel your clothing and make a mockery of your hair by re-arranging it constantly. So, in case you ever wondered if it was true - YES - Chicago is truly the windy city! (They aren't kidding)